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editor@nightshiftmag.co.uk
@NightshiftMag
NightshiftMag
nightshiftmag.co.uk
NIGHTSHIFT
Oxford’s Music Magazine
Free every
month
Issue 239
June
2015
photo: Derek James
Asher
Dust
The maverick music-maker
talks about his battles with
the music biz and mental
illness, and how age has
made him more
uncompromising
OXFORD DUPLICATION CENTRE
cheryl@theduplicationcentre.co.uk
Also in this issue
Introducing ESTHER JOY LANE
The Oxford Punt reviewed
plus
All your Oxford music news,
previews and reviews, and
five pages of local gigs.
Office: 01865 457000 Mobile: 07917 775477
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Roy, Pete The Temp, Evolution, Coozes, Blue Moon and many more...
NIGHTSHIFT: PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU. Phone: 01865 372255
NEWS
Nightshift: PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU
Phone: 01865 372255
email: editor@nightshiftmag.co.uk
Online: nightshiftmag.co.uk
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT returns for
its third annual outing on Friday 3rd July.
The charity concert in the amphitheatre
at the Said Business School, features sets
from Ran Kan Kan, Balloon Ascents,
The Dreaming Spires, Paul McLure,
The Shapes, Loud Mountains, Lone Tree
Quartet and Fifteen Strings. Ticket details
to follow.
PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING,
CLEAN BANDIT AND SHY FX are
among the latest names to be added to
this year’s Truck Festival bill. Retrotalkie electro duo PSB join Basement
Jaxx and Temples on the main stage on
the Saturday, while `Rather Be’ hitmakers
Clean Bandit join The Charlatans and
Augustines on the Friday. Drum&bass
stars Shy FX, meanwhile, host and
headline a late night dance party in the
Barn on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, the final 19 unsigned and
local acts will be announced shortly. Over
1,000 applications have been whittled
down and the lucky few will be chosen by
BBC Introducing; Big Scary Monsters and
Alcopop! Records; Clubhouse Records;
Pulled Apart By Horses and Lucy Rose,
and Truck themselves.
Truck runs over the weekend of the 17th18th July at Hill Farm, Steventon. Visit
www.truckfestival.com for all the news
and ticket details.
RAWZ releases a new video EP on
Youtube this month. The local MC’s
`Freedom Styles Radio’ is a three-track
“video journey,” filmed at home on a
mobile phone using “an improvised selfie
stick,” and is intended to be “a short
sampler to showcase myself as an artist. I
wanted something more interesting than
the multitude of uninspiring ‘freestyle’
videos dripping from the internet,
typically featuring a rapper standing in
front of a generic urban backdrop shouting
at a camera.”
Check out more of Rawz’s music at
Facebook.com/RealRawz or
Rawz.bandcamp.com.
ZAIA launch their new EP `Challenge
145’ on Dub Politics this month. The local
reggae/dub stars, who played the Punt in
May, host a launch party at the Bullingdon
on Friday 5th June, from 10pm-3am. Hear
the band at www.zaiaband.com.
THE SWEATBOX youth club in
Wantage is offering young musicians
and DJs free workshops and rehearsals at
their new Soundbox Sessions under the
mentorship of local singer and musician
Eloise Rees from this month. Sessions
take place on Tuesday evenings from
7-9.30pm and will include professional
local musicians offering advice and
tutoring, as well as a jam session at the
end of each evening. Talking about the
new sessions, Eloise said, “I experienced
what a massive impact Sweatbox music
had on me and fellow musicians a decade
ago and what a vibrant and successful
local music scene it helped create. I want
to resurrect these opportunities to enrich
the lives of young Oxfordshire music
makers of today”
The Sweatbox, based at King Alfred’s
Academy, is also bringing back its Friday
night Soundbox Live gigs, aimed at
providing young bands and musicians
with a chance to play live. “We have an
impressive stage set up and are able to
provide quality in house backline, guitars,
bass, drums, 4K PA system and a range of
hi-tech sound, lighting and video making
equipment. So if you want to perform,
play, learn about recording, lighting or
sound please get in touch, we’d love to
help you out.” Any acts, aged between
11-18 years old, interested should contact
Eloise at hellosoundbox@gmail.com.
GLASSHOUSE STUDIOS opens this
month after a year of major rebuilding and
refitting. The rehearsal studio – on the site
of the old Coldroom Studio in Cumnor –
is one of Oxford’s oldest and most historic
rehearsal spaces and has been reopened
by Jamie Hyatt, singer with The Family
Machine. Glasshouse offers three practice
rooms and is open all day, seven days a
week. You can have a look at what they’ve
done to the place, check out prices and
available slots and book your session at
glasshousestudios.org, or give Jamie a
call on 07917 685 935.
GUITAR / SONGWRITING TUITION
Most styles, acoustic and electric, and bass
Beginners welcome - full-time teacher
author of How to Write Songs on Guitar
and many other guitar books
www.rikkyrooksby.com
rikky@oceanview.free-online.co.uk
Tel. 01865 765847
Three state of the art rehearsal rooms.
For bookings.
Call Jamie on 07917685935
Glasshouse studios, Cumnor, Oxford
glasshousestudios.org
THE OXFORD RECORD
DVD & CD FAIR
St ALDATES PARISH CENTRE
40 Pembroke St, St Aldates, OX1 1BP
Saturday 27th June
10am-4pm
Rock/pop/jazz/soul/reggae/indie/all other genres
Accessories/memoriabillia/books.
Brand new and back catalogue/Rare Vinyl
www.usrfairs.co.uk
NEWS
Nightshift: PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU
Phone: 01865 372255
email: editor@nightshiftmag.co.uk
Online: nightshiftmag.co.uk
With all the excitement of the
recent Ride reunion, it’s a perfect
time to grab a copy of the new
Ride: The Network fanzine.
alongside original vintage analogue
valve outboard equipment. “The
new kit offers bigger and better
capabilities with pristine sound
quality, new output formats
suitable for the major labels,
unbelievably fast processing
speeds and a Mac Pro which you
could easily mistake for a plant
pot,” said Tim. Email tim@
turanaudio.co.uk for a quote.
Produced by long-time fan and
friend of the band Mark Taylor,
the zine features 80 pages, and
has loads of exclusive content
including extensive interviews
with all four band members and
photos from their pre-production
rehearsals, as well as the recent O2
Academy show. It’s available now
from Truck Store, priced £5, or £5
+ £1.25 postage from
www.ride.network. Regular Ride
news updates are on their Twitter
@ridethenetwork.
AS EVER, don’t forget to tune
into BBC Oxford Introducing
every Saturday night between
8-9pm on 95.2fm. The dedicated
local music show plays the best
Oxford releases and demos as
well as featuring interviews and
sessions with local acts. The show
is available to stream or download
as a podcast at bbc.co.uk/oxford.
Regularly updated local music
news is available online at www.
musicinoxford.co.uk. The site
also features interactive reviews, a
photo gallery and gig guide.
Turan Audio have completely
upgraded the computer side of
their mastering studio in Cowley.
Legendary local engineer Tim
Turan now offers Pro-Tools HDX
with full 64bit processing,
OXFORD GIGBOT provides a
regular local gig listing update on
Twitter (@oxgigbot), bringing you
new gigs as soon as they go live.
They also provide a free weekly
listings email. Follow them.
PAM AYRES AND
STARGAZER have been added
to the bill for this year’s Cornbury
Festival. Quirky west country
poet Ayres is celebrating 40 years
performing, while Stargazer
(pictured) is the new band formed
by actress Martine McCutcheon
and her husband Jack McManus.
Other new additions to the
Cornbury bill include Nashville
country act Striking Matches,
and Glaswegian country stars
Raintown.
Cornbury runs over the weekend
of the 10th-12th July at Great Tew
Estate. Headline acts are Tom
Jones, Razorlight and Supertramp
vocalist Roger Hodgson, as well
as big name acts like Lulu, Martha
Reeves, Blue and Chas’n’Dave. Full
line-up and tickets at
www.cornburyfestival.com.
WIN CORNBURY TICKETS!
CORNBURY FESTIVAL! IT’S BACK!
AGAIN! Hurrah! And huzzah! Music and beer
and music and sunshine and music all in a field
together with some beer. Throw in the occasional
prime minister, a swathe of TV presenters and
some music and beer and you’ve got a recipe for
a damned decent weekend in the countryside.
Great Tew to be precise, a delightful corner of our
beloved county.
Cornbury Festival is twelve years old this year,
which means it’s almost a teenager, but it’s in little
danger of getting all stroppy and hormonal on our
asses any time soon. No, Cornbury is the height
of civilised when it comes to music festivals,
and even though we here at Nightshift like a bit
of hedonism and dirt under our fingernails, we’ll
happily decamp to the other side for three days
camping and music and beer, with Cornbury’s
characteristic combination of big-name stars, cult
heroes, regular favourites and pop fun.
This year’s Cornbury Festival takes place over the
weekend of the 10th-12th July in the grounds of the
Great Tew Estate, which is well pretty.
Headlining this year’s event are TOM JONES,
Supertramp chap ROGER HODGSON and
RAZORLI……… no, sorry we can’t bring
ourselves to type that out in full. It might summon
a demon. But hey, Sir Tom Bloody Jones! Does
Cornbury usually book stars of this calibre? Well,
it’s not unusual. A ha ha ha ha. Etc.
These table toppers will be joined over the three
days by the likes of THE FRATELLIS, BLUE,
and rising stars, and this year including returning
favourites THE ORIGINAL RABBIT FOOT
SPASM BAND, BRICKWORK LIZARDS
and ALPHABET BACKWARDS, as well as
DREAMING SPIRES, BRIGHTWORK and
LES CLOCHARDS, amongst others.
BILLY OCEAN, JOHN COOPER CLARKE
(he’s not a Sir like Tom Jones, but he is an honorary
Doctor) HANK WANGFORD (who’s an actual
doctor, of the sort rarely mentioned in polite
conversation), LULU, LARKIN POE, THE
FELICE BROTHERS, WARD THOMAS,
JACK SAVORETTI, POLICE DOG HOGAN
and CHAS & DAVE. Chas & Dave! Go on, admit
it, you love them. If you don’t you have no concept
of what fun means.
There’s more besides, including a supergroup
formed by legendary producer TREVOR HORN,
who’ll be playing all the hits from his esteemed
career, including `Video Killed the Radio Star’,
which is better than any other pop song of the last
20 years. Fact.
That’s more than enough to keep you going across
two stages for the weekend, but in case you want
even more, how about a comedy tent featuring
AISLING BEA, JOE LYCETT and KATHRYN
RYAN? Or the Riverside Stage, featuring both local
Then of course there’s the DISCO SHED, which
is where Nightshift invariably ends each evening,
dancing like a crazy thing. You should join us, just
watch out for our elbows.
Tickets for Cornbury Festival are on sale now
from the festival website (www.cornburyfestival.
com) or the ticket hotline: 0844 338 0000. Adult
weekend camping tickets are £183, with discounts
for oldies and young’uns alike, plus the chance to
VIP it up if fancy takes you. Day tickets are also
available.
And thanks to our very good friends at Cornbury
we’ve got a pair of adult weekend tickets to give
away! Free! No, don’t thank us. It’s our pleasure.
To win, just tell us which of these acts has
never headlined Cornbury FestivaL
A) BLONDIE; B) STATUS QUO; C)
MOTORHEAD.
Email answers, clearly marked Cornbury
Competition, to editor@nightshiftmag.co.uk,
or on a postcard to Cornbury Competition,
Nightshift Magazine, PO Box 312, Kidlington,
OX5 1ZU. Please include full name, email
address and a daytime phone number. The
editor’s decision is to sing `Video Killed The
Radio Star really, really loudly all the way
through Razorlight’s set.
KIDS ZONE | FAIRGROUND | GOURMET CATERERS | FESTIVAL SHOPS
DISCO SHED | AMAZING VIP & GLAMPING
photo: Derek James
A quiet word with
Asher Dust
“Other than this new
album I have five other albums
waiting to be uploaded; they are all
compilations of ideas and songs I
have recorded over the years, as well
as at least two albums worth of really
good tracks recorded with Farjedi for
our Far//Dust and TickTock projects.
I also have a forthcoming meditation,
chakra ambient album recorded with
local psychic medium Susie Woods,
of which all proceeds will be going
to Papyrus, Prevention of Young
Suicide.”
It’s fair to say that
Andrew Jones, aka Asher Dust, aka
Blankdread, aka one half of Far//
Dust, aka the voice of a thousand
collaborations, is Oxford’s most
prolific music maker. Here at
Nightshift we have virtually an entire
shelf reserved for the man’s musical
output – an output that stretches back
to the 1980s. His personal musical
history goes back further back than
that of course. Aged just six years old,
Jones sang on stage with his dad’s
reggae sound system (one of the first
in town), discovering his love of
creating and performing music.
In a long and varied career,
he’s played in numerous bands,
collaborated with too many acts to
mention here, been signed to ZTT and
EMI and worked with Trevor Horn
and Paul Hardcastle. He’s enjoyed
some serious highs and endured
spectacular lows, and on more than a
couple of occasions he’s given up on
music altogether.
But this month Andrew
– under his Asher Dust moniker
– releases his latest full album,
`Righteous Boombox’, proving that
making music is in his blood and
always will be. Proving too that
the more disconnected he becomes
from what might be perceived as the
mainstream, the better he gets.
`Righteous Boombox’ is eclectic
to say the least – a furiously busy
mix and meld of hip hop, grime,
electronica, jazz, reggae, ska, synthpop and r’n’b informed by postpunk’s anything-goes attitude, and cut
through by Jones’ striking voice that’s
previously seen him compared to Seal
and Terence Trent D’Arby and is one
of the most instantly recognisable in
Oxford.
It’s a characteristically impossibleto-pigeonhole flurry of righteous
politics (the album’s title track); social
commentary (`This Life’) and soulbearing honesty (`Junk Heart’), all
reflecting the complex character of
a man who’s been there and seen it
all, walked away in disgust and then
returned to see it some more.
Jones has long been one
of Nightshift’s favourite interviewees
– honest, experienced and opinionated
(“I have an opinion on absolutely
everything,” he claims). And with
seemingly at least half a dozen
projects and collaborations on the go
at any one time, he’s never short of
things to talk about.
“I tend to have manic periods of
creativity and then very little, unless
I am approached for a collaboration,”
he says, when Nightshift asks how
much more music he’s got in the
pipeline and if everything he records
sees the light of day. “I spend a lot of
time lyric writing or experimenting
with sounds and beat making. I’d say
only about 20 per cent of what I write
or record is put out there. “At the moment all those ideas rarely
keep me awake, but they certainly
have done in the past, very much so.
In the past I have got up to mumble or
sing a melody or lyric into my mobile
or a Dictaphone at ungodly hours.”
While it’s three years
since we last interviewed him for
the front cover, Nightshift emails
Jones regularly to chat about music,
particularly our shared love of those
artists who defy convention or
categorisation, from Grace Jones,
Kate Bush and Japan to Fucked Up,
Congotronics and Sleaford Mods.
While Andrew has turned us on to
acts like Clippings and White Lung,
Nightshift has lately converted him to
the joys of Gary Numan.
It’s from such eclectic,
adventurous tastes that the Asher Dust
sound is formed. Much of the new
album is diverse and restless enough
to be near enough unclassifiable. Is
this a case of pulling a track together
and wanting to throw everything and a
bit more into it, just to see what comes
out the other end?
“I take that as a massive
compliment; I’m not sure if I agree
that it is unclassifiable. To me it
sounds like, at best, forward-thinking,
eclectic electronica. However it goes
without saying that I would love it to
be the case. I definitely think that in
the past I was guilty of deliberately
trying to be weird and consequently
the tracks sounded forced and
dishonest. I do tend to discard any
tracks that sound as if they are going
into too safe or bog standard musical
territory. Still, a good song is a good
song, hence the fact that I have
started learning to play my acoustic
guitar again as well as purchasing a
Mac to up my production game. But
in answer to your question, I most
definitely chuck ideas into a track to
experiment and see what happens…
why the fuck not?”
Jones’ formative musical
years were spent around his dad’s
soundsystem, and reggae is still part
of the heart and soul of his Asher
Dust and Blankdread music. Years of
discovery have mutated that sound,
though.
“It totally began with my parents’
eclectic record collection and my
father’s sound system, Sir Jones HiFi, not to mention the regular parties
at our house where I was allowed to
stay up for, and I also, from a very
young age, was a selector at the
parties, picking out tunes to play.
“Singing with the Addis Ababa
Reggae Sound System and recording
several dub plates; forming, writing
and recording with my former bands
like Big Speakers and Nortica;
recording great rock songs with local
sound engineer/musician Spike;
roots reggae with Danny Dread: all
had a massive impact on my musical
development. Prior to my Asher
Dust project there are a few albums
that spring to mind that had a direct
influence on me both sonically and
in terms of inspiring me to be a little
braver. Artists like Prince with his
`Purple Rain’, `Parade’, `Sign of the
Times’ and `Around the World in a
Day’ albums. Also Massive Attack’s
`Blue Lines’ was huge for me in
terms of me trying to merge dub, soul,
breakbeat and pop into a cohesive
whole. Public Enemy, Grace Jones,
The Slits, Kate Bush, Tom Waits,
Tricky, Siouxsie & The Banshees,
Wu Tang Clan, Lee Hazlewood,
Kashif, The System are all people
who inspired me, not just musically,
but because they have always gone
their own way. These people inspire
me to be brave. Sometimes when
I am wavering in my conviction to
what I want musically, these type
of artists are a reminder to me not
to compromise my vision. Even if
sometimes some of it sounds a bit
ridiculous or shit. Asher Dust was
almost certainly started on the back
of hearing The Streets’ first album; I
had been recording a lot of stuff and
experimenting with a kind of spoken
word, very English style of vocal.
That first Streets album gave me the
courage and inspiration to go for it.
However, currently I listen to a lot of
electronica of all styles, which has a
huge bearing on the direction of the
forthcoming Asher Dust album.
Given the widespread influences
working on his music, does Jones
consciously differentiate between his
Asher Dust and Blankdread personas?
“I feel Asher Dust is more
experimental electronica
dancetriphoppopgrime
based, whereas Blankdread
is a more organic bastardised
bluesjazzhiphopgospelpunk type
ting; my approach to both projects
is markedly different, both lyrically
and musically. Lyrically both projects
are my personal experiences and
observations, however Blankdread
leans towards a conflicted antireligious theme.”
During one of our
correspondences a while back,
Andrew declared he was going to
retire from making music, give it over
to the kids; his recent output suggests
otherwise. What changed his mind?
He’s quit before, so is there something
that burns inside him that means he
can never really stop?
“Yeah, I’m afraid the old depression,
mental health, cynicism and self pity
do sometimes kick in and I turn into
a grumpy old dickhead. However,
the compromise for me was that I
quit Soundcloud because I found that
every time I logged in I was obsessing
very much more confident about
my creativity. For example I love
my forthcoming album. I don’t beat
myself up about it not being a great
album; I am happy and acknowledge
that for me personally it is a good
album and one which I am proud of,
whereas in the past I would have been
comparing it unfavourably to other,
far better albums.
`Junk Heart’ in particular off the new
album, touches on this.
“Indeed it does; it was written during
a very dark period in my life, where
paranoid thoughts, substance abuse
and in particular alcohol were fucking
with my head. Writing a song like
‘Junk Heart’ is a form of musical
exorcism for me.”
There’s some righteous positivity
in your words, but also much anger
and some bitterness - `Fuck a Fake
Friend’ in particular; do you feel you
pour your emotions into your lyrics
“I definitely feel that in my old age
I am becoming increasingly more
uncompromising and experimental”
about stats, likes, plays etc... it kind of
became disheartening when I would
post up a track that I thought was
killer and only get one or two plays
a week and then I would find myself
checking other people’s stats and
getting angry because some shite track
was getting a squillion likes. So now
I just upload my tracks to Bandcamp.
I don’t bother checking how many
plays. Once it’s uploaded I leave
it…and that suits my paranoid oversensitive soul much better.
“I do also accept that I can never
stop making music. With both my
Asher Dust and Blankdread projects,
I definitely feel that in my old age
I am becoming increasingly more
uncompromising and experimental
musically.”
Mental health issues are
something AJ has spoken candidly
about previously, and they are a
feature of his music and lyrics. In
what ways does he feel they have
affected his music?
“I feel it has massively affected my
decision making process. Paranoid
thoughts, self medicating through
alcohol and drugs caused me to fall
out with people and restricted me
musically. I think it also caused me to
stay working with people who were
not positive or good to be around.
I deleted a lot of good music from
my hardrive because of unhelpful
thinking and substance abuse.
However, partly due to therapy via
The Complex Needs Service and
getting help and support from the
staff at the The Mill drop-in centre, I
most certainly feel much more able
to cope and function as a relatively
normal human being. I certainly feel
completely, or do you have to edit
parts of them out?
“I very rarely edit parts out. It’s
definitely `what you see is what you
get’; I would say at least 80 per cent
of my lyrics are autobiographical.
Unfortunately at times there’s maybe
a little too much lingering anger and
bitterness; however via therapy and
self-reflection I am slowly confronting
and dealing with my shit; certainly
‘Fuck a Fake Friend’ is 100 per cent
from the heart, no holds barred, but
actually it was written from a good
place and there is a lot of humour and
closure in that track, despite the title.
“My enthusiasm and confidence has
been directly negatively influenced
by people that I have worked with
in the past, dealing with folk whose
egos far outweigh their talent;
shady people trying to rip you off.
Dealing with major labels and music
industry people in the 1980s was a
contributory factor in my giving up
music for a prolonged period in the
late 80s and early 90s. A massive
learning curve for me personally is
realising that not everyone you spend
time in the creative process with is
a friend. Knowing the difference
between friends and acquaintances is
vital for self preservation.”
Do you think your uncompromising
attitude to music now is still shaped
by your experiences with ZTT and in
particular EMI?
“Very much so; not only that but my
complete lack of success in terms
of getting gigs, selling my music
etc. I definitely am in a better place
creatively in that respect. With both
ZTT and EMI I recorded really bad,
derivative pop shit, just to appease the
record label and because back then I
was desperate for fame and fortune.
Over recent years, however, I am once
again making music for my own ears.
I actually love the music I make, both
with my Asher Dust and Blankdread
projects. Not in the way that I think
that they are better than other acts, I
just genuinely love the music I make
and I feel that they fill a gap in my
music collection.”
While in the past the
name Asher Dust was a regular
feature on myriad other local artists’
releases – from Tiger Mendoza to
Dubwiser – more recently Andrew
has pulled back a bit from getting
involved with so many other projects.
A few bad experiences have made him
pick and choose far more. Has that
been particularly liberating?
“Very much so, I love being a bit
selfish creatively and just writing,
recording what the hell I like.
Sometimes I don’t want to spend
hours on a fecking snare sound or
whatever; I just want to get my ideas
down, irrespective of the bass being
too loud or the levels not being
perfect. I think sometimes we need to
listen to some dusty crusty old blues,
bluegrass, punk or 1920s raw gospel,
just for that rawness, just to remind
ourselves that pristine, super clean
ain’t always the way.”
Which have been your favourite
collaborators?
“My current collaborators Farjedi,
who I do the Far//Dust and TikkTokk
projects with, and Meef Chaloin
are always my mainstays. I can’t
imagine not working with those guys
to be honest. Flooded Hallways and
Tom O Hawk too. All are extremely
talented in very different ways. Jonas
Torrance from Dubwiser is another,
and someone who I need to work with
more.”
As he says, Jones has an
opinion on everything. If Asher Dust
ruled the world, what would it be like?
“Bullies and trolls would be treated
with extreme harshness. More
empathy and love would be the law;
a Dutty B Line would be obligatory,
three times a day. The usual… world
peace, no poverty. But especially the
Dutty B Line bit!”
And, as a man who has been making
music for longer than many local
bands have been alive, along the way
helping mentoring a new generation
of musicians as part of the Ark-T
Project for a while, how would he like
to be remembered by the local music
community?
“I was going to say, `I don’t care,’
which is partly true. Primarily,
because my musical endeavours have
met with mass indifference, but to be
remembered as ‘Someone Who Did
His Own Thing Musically’ would
suffice.”
`Righteous Boombox’ is available
now at asherdust.bandcamp.com
RELEASED
MERMAID NOISES
`Mermaid Noise’
(Big Red Sky)
As part of The Anyways, Lucky & the Losers and
most recently Les Clochards, singer and multiinstrumentalist Karen Cleave’s life is wholly
entwined with that of Oxford music over the last
30 years. In those bands she always seemed like
a supporting character – particularly as a sweetvoiced backing singer. The question this debut
solo album under the guise Mermaid Sounds
throws up is, why in hell’s name hasn’t she taken
centre stage before?
There’s a sense of playfulness that rides through
the dozen songs here, clocking in at a compact 37
minutes and infused with an instinct for carefree
pop that just can’t be learned. Given her past
musical record, it’s a surprise to hear Karen’s
songs based mostly on synths and electronic
beats, recorded with Hot Hooves main man Mac,
even going as far as sampling Tubeway Army’s
`I Nearly Married a Human’ for the intro to `Stay
Young Long’, while the rest of the track sounds
borrowed from Numan’s existential hymn `M.E.’.
Elsewhere you can hear fleeting echoes of Giorgio
Moroder, Ladytron and Stereolab, while vocally
Karen’s none-more-English, sweetly clipped
voice reminds us of Young Marble Giants’ Alison
Statton. In fact the album occasionally feels
wonderfully like it’s a long-lost gem packed up
and forgotten sometime around the turn of the
70s and 80s when bedroom-bound art students
were allowing the freedoms bestowed by punk
to take them into all manner of quirky, oddball
pop music; a prime example is the chirpy `Gone
Delinquent’, with its wired squiggle of synths and
FOCI’S LEFT
`Nothing’
(Self-released)
If brevity is the soul of wit, it’s also the beating
heart of great pop music. There’s plenty to be said
for elongated musical journeys of different kinds,
but a double CD album of ambient electronic
noodling and minimalist pianism clocking in at
well over two hours isn’t the sort of thing to get
our pulses racing, if we’re honest.
A resolute lack of track listing, or even a hint as
to which of the CDs is meant to be listened to first
doesn’t help matters, and we’re left to plough on
unguided through the shifting thought patterns of
Mick Buckingham, who is Foci’s Left.
CD number 1 starts well – a lengthy piece of
shivering Steve Reich-influenced electronica
that creates an eerie atmosphere across some 16
minutes, followed by a briefer passage of gentle
pianism that teeters on the edge of random.
There’s primitive synthetic squiggles, wobbles and
undulations on the third piece, which drifts along
but with some sense of purpose, and the harsher
tones that defy the soothing ambient washes on
track 4 keep the album alive and alert.
From here though, things unravel at speed,
detuned piano plonking and cheap Casio stabs
lack any kind of structure and quickly become an
Sponsored by
DEADLY ORGONE
RADIATION
`Power Trips’
(Copepod Records)
breathless sense of hurry.
For all its playfulness and sparky outlook, there’s
a spikiness about Karen’s lyrics – “hey, clothears!” she snipes at one point, and more than once
we’re reminded of Momus, but even here there’s
a girlish sense of fun underlying everything. She
even manages to rhyme spectrum with rectum at
one point.
Difficult to pick a single highlight from the
album – from the carouselling `Stay Young’ to the
clamouring waltz of `Weekend Sue’, but `Wrong
Lifeboat’ maybe pips the lot with its elegantly
fuzzy scramble of instruments and sisterly nod to
Viv Albertine’s `Confessions of a MILF’. It’s an
album, though, that rewards repeated listening; for
all its surface simplicity there’s more going on in
each three-minute journey into whimsy than most
bands manage in an entire lifetime, and `Mermaid
Noise’ is already set to be Nightshift’s favourite
best kept secret of 2015.
Dale Kattack
irritant, recalling local experimental music maestro
Jim `Spunkle’ Davies’ assertion that, yes, playing
a detuned piano at the bottom of an abandoned
mineshaft is experimental, but it’s also shit, and by
the end of the CD everything’s degenerated into a
mess of incoherent noise and we’ve lost all sense
of patience.
CD 2 starts in similar fashion to 1, with a dirgy
take on Coil’s dungeon-dark atmospherics
lightened by some kosmische drifting, and a
renewed feel for dynamics. This leads into
possibly the album’s highlight, an easy if
occasionally stumbling piano meander that owes
plenty to Erik Satie. It’s the most melodic he gets.
From here we’re off into scattershot ambient
drum&bass, haunted music box creepy/sweetness
and distorted, bleached-out lounge jazz, by way of
Eno’s shifting sands. Again though, things begin to
lose focus as the album wafts into generic ambient
serenity and random plonking.
Ultimately Foci’s Left are capable of interesting
ideas, and capture and build a mood with a decent
sense of nuance, but even this kind of ambient
soundscaping needs self editing. A fifty-minute
compendium of both CDs’ best bits would have
made for a captivating journey. Instead, you’re
left shouting “get a bloody move on!” at regular
intervals. Even on the longer journeys a little
brevity goes a long way.
Dale Kattack
There’s a powerful set of connections bound
up in this six-track album of complex,
aggressive, guitar-heavy free noise. Drummer
Weasel Walter founded Chicago’s noisy
instrumentalists The Flying Luttenbachers, has
played and worked with Jim O’Rourke and
Harry Pussy, and his production credits include
Coachwhips and Glenn Branca.
Guitarist and Oxford connection #1 James
Sedwards has played with Nøught, Guapo, The
Devil and Chrome Hoof, and is now a key part
of Thurston Moore’s band along with Moore’s
Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley and My
Bloody Valentine’s Deb Goodge. Guitarist/
alto sax player and Oxford connection #2 Alex
Ward is the Copepod label owner and a roving
improviser who has worked and performed with
Eugene Chadbourne and Derek Bailey, among
scores of others.
So far, so many names dropped, but what
does this power trio do? Sedwards’ tone and
style – familiar through Nøught’s labyrinthine
structures and textures – is inextricably bound
up with his fellow players’ equally (and
relentlessly) complex music; `Power Trips’ is
Nøught’s template of controlled guitar noise
workouts extended into endless free jazz-meetsindie-noise areas of experiment.
Chaos, however, this is not. Amongst the
barrage of frenzied, shifting blocks of maxedout EQ is artistry; guitars complement one
another, drums weave a cerebral breadcrumb
trail across both individual tracks and the album
as a whole. During moments like ‘Commission
The Cutthroat’, the intensity is lessened and
a spidery, thundering structure that underlies
more enraged tracks here is laid bare. The
introduction of alto sax in ‘Oversized Cupid’
lends a Contortions-esque feel to the track,
and this reference – perhaps unconscious to
the band – circles Deadly Orgone Radiation
right back around to New York’s late 1970s No
Wave scene, for an intriguing, rewarding album
wherein Art + Guitars + Musicality = Noise.
Simon Minter
THE TROPHY CABINET
`Mesmerise’
(Self released)
Time passes slowly in The Trophy Cabinet’s
world, where The Go-Betweens are still very
much top of the pops, and why not; that lush,
elegant and light-to-the-touch approach to guitar
pop never really dates, plaintive vocals and sweet
female backing as appealing as when it was
KENAN KHAZENDAR
`Without You EP’
(Self-released)
Repressed childhood trauma is a terrible thing.
As we grow we bury those bad things as deep as
our brains can dig so as not to forever believe the
world is an incurably terrible place. Each of us
carries a terrible memory with us, mostly forgotten
until a trigger unleashes its horror once more and
we – adults – are left whimpering behind the sofa
with our thumb in our mouth.
For Nightshift it’s 80s jazz-funk shitemeisters
Shakatak, a band we’d pretty much forgotten ever
existed, even on Top of the Pops 2 re-runs. But
mere seconds into Kenan Khazendar’s EP, we’re
cast back to a time of sinisterly tinkling electric
piano and supine lounge grooves. Those bastards
were omnipresent in the early-80s, every song
the same, every one the soundtrack to white suit
jackets with the sleeves rolled up or a reversible
jacket from C&A.
NON-STOP TANGO
`Unnatural Selection’
(Self-released)
Nonstop Tango describe themselves as “an
Oxford-based Anglo-Greek-Polish anarchosituationist Morton Feldman/Funkadelic mashup flash-mob collective”, although what that
actually means is not at all clear. New album
`Unnatural Selection’ is a concept album about
their “vox-poptrix and lyric disassembler”
Stavroula Kounadea taking a walk from The Plain
to Divinity Road. Favourite landmarks such as
The Star receive shout outs but this familiarity
does make it feel very inward focused, especially
because most of the band is mentioned by name.
The band have appeared to take inspiration from a
wide range of musicians and genres which results
in an inharmonious listening experience because,
frequently, the songs bear very little resemblance
to each other. For example, it moves from `Erik
Laments Ms Valadon With The Help of Miles
Robert Forster who was seemingly at the end of
his emotional tether back in the early 80s.
`Charm Offender’ carries that slightly lispy sense
of urgency of Belle & Sebastian’s early vignettes,
the song kicking off on the top deck of the bus
before motoring home by way of Heartache-onthe-Hill, the musical personification of sweetness
and light.
`Handing Back the Keys’ is slower, darker,
almost country-ish stroll down The Avenue of
Wistful Memories, but `Ms Svengali’ positively
rattles along on rolling toms and organ buzz;
Fewtrell’s highly-strung voice is the constant
and the core of each song though, and when he
sings “This is the last goodbye,” heartstrings are
undeniably tugged.
While it’s easy to compare their sound to that
of bands from over 30 years ago, The Trophy
Cabinet originally formed back in the early 80s
before university pulled the members away
from each other. They reformed a few years
ago, but you can imagine if they’d been able to
release songs of this calibre back in their original
lifespan, maybe they’d be a benchmark now for
such classic pop, alongside The Go-Betweens
and Aztec Camera. As it is, they remain an
unassumingly classy act.
Dale Kattack
We guess Kenan would call it r’n’b, some kind
of missing link between Pharrell, Jamie Cullum
and Ed Sheeran, but even we’ll admit those
three monuments to sterile soullessness posses a
modicum of poetic sensibility between them. Not
Kenan.
“Let me bite your ear / While I feel your lemons”
he pants sexily on EP opener `Tonight (Love Is
In The Room)’ as a nation of love-hungry young
ladies swoon on their beds and the heady mix of
soft focus electric piano and upright bass curdles
slowly in the middle distance.
“Tonight love is in the room / How about we seize
it now / On the bed / We’ll make love and sleep
the night away,” croons Kenan suggestively. Sleep
the night away? So basically you’re saying it’ll all
be over in five minutes before you roll over and
start snoring? Truly sir, you are the heir to Barry
White’s Love Throne. As for Nightshift, there’s no
fucking way we’re sleeping the night away after
this – our dreams will be haunted by the ghost of
Shakatak for months to come. Really, thanks.
Dale Kattack
And Frederic’, which is an electronic, beat-heavy
number, to `When Marilyn Met Caligula’, which
simultaneously sounds like the sort of reggae you
might hear in a lift and a really, really bad trip.
One of the tracks that stands out is `Guitar Song’
with its clear sexual overtones. Kounadea, with
a breathy moan, just lists various types of guitars
and squeals suggestively. Safe to say, Birkin and
Gainsbourg shouldn’t worry about competition for
the sexiest song.
The last track, `Beautiful Song’, sounds rather
like a reworking of `We Are Family’, but with less
funk. It provides an upbeat ending to the album
but it doesn’t seem to really fit. The lyrics are trite
and while they try and say a lot (“I found myself
inside the superstore that people like me and
people like you like to call, Grotesco”), in fact they
aren’t saying anything at all. The band cite Erik
Satie, John Cage and William Burroughs as their
inspirations. These men were innovative in their
time. Doing a similar thing half a century later is
not experimental and ground breaking, it’s clichéd.
Claire Vainker
JON SEAGOATT &
IAN STAPLES with
BOBBIE WATSON
‘Deathless’
(Self-Released)
It’s doubtful whether any local band release will
be as mired in blood as this one. Its inspiration
is the Minotaur myth as re-imagined by Steven
Sherrill in his novel The Minotaur Takes a
Cigarette Break, which has the Minotaur
escaping the Labyrinth and living in a down-at
heal trailer park having suppressed his appetite
for a diet of Athenian virgins.
So we’ve got the original legend, Sherrill’s retelling and Seagroatt and Staples’ take on that
re-telling. The pair are renowned improvising
musicians, so there’s free improv which is then
manipulated and mixed until there are more layers
than William and Kate’s wedding cake. You’ve
also got a CD that can pose questions about
compassion, redemption and forgiveness. Or you
can forget about all this and just enjoy the music.
What Seagroatt and Staples have created is
an album of instrumental and manipulated
sound without any obvious tunes or hooks.
It’s bookended by a couple of short vocal
pieces, beautifully sung by Bobbie Watson,
which describe and comment on Astereon the
Minotaur’s situation. On most of the ten tracks
in between Seagroatt’s magnificently lugubrious
and pure soprano sax, bass clarinet and flute
dominate. There’s almost none of the high-speed
parping associated with free jazz, not even on the
track ‘The Minotaur Sits Exhausted, Knuckles
Skinless,
Toes Sticky With Blood, Head In Hands’, a title
which seems heaven sent for a bit of parping.
Instead Seagroatt, like the late great fellow multireeds player Eric Dolphy, dazzles with plaintive
lines which he never lets become the musical
equivalent of limp soggy lettuce.
Seagroatt’s reeds and Staples’ sparse but
richly atmospheric guitar are integrated with an
ominously echoing, rumbling drone soundscape
which, like Ariadne’s thread in the Labyrinth,
runs through the CD. On a casual listen tracks
might be seem to be samey, though this would be
to ignore the nuances and how the atmosphere
builds track by track. To get the max out of this
album you probably need to get the headphones
on and close your eyes.
This clearly been a labour of love, and Jon
Seagroatt has created something that in its way
is magnificent in conception and execution, and
perhaps unique in the local music landscape.
Colin May
GIG GUIDE
MONDAY 1st
CHAMELEONS VOX: The Bullingdon –
Manchester’s cult post-punk heroes play their
`What Does Anything Mean? Basically’ album
– see main preview
YEARS & YEARS: O2 Academy – They won
a prize; we voted for the other guys – see main
preview
THE JACKIE OATES BAND + MEGAN
Monday 1st
CHAMELEONS VOX:
The Bullingdon
In their time The Chameleons were probably
the most underrated band ever to come out
of Manchester, and that’s saying something.
Formed back in 1981 around the singing and
songwriting talent of Mark Burgess and the
slyly epic guitar playing of Reg Smithies,
they were contemporaries of Echo & the
Bunnymen and Gang of Four in style and
outlook, but never made the breakthrough
into the mainstream. Debut album `Script of
the Bridge’ stands up as a classic of early80s post-punk – a meeting point of goth
and chiming pop – but they split after the
relatively disappointing `Strange Times and
the death of their manager. Subsequently
they were hailed as an influence by Noel
Gallagher and The Edge, while The Horrors
nicked much of their sound wholesale. In
fact The Chameleons’ sound has influenced
much of modern indie’s darker side, and
they remain a cult concern, regularly aired
to great enthusiasm on 6Music, particularly
in the later hours. Burgess reformed
the band in 2000, and again in 2009 as
ChameleonsVox, with himself as the sole
original member. They’ve made sporadic
releases but tonight sees them reliving
classic second album, `What Does Anything
Mean? Basically’. A chance to relive those
glory days, or alternatively, hear where half
your favourite bands got their ideas from.
JUNE
in some way’s spiritual kin to Piney, fronted
by American ex-pat Angela Space and taking
punk, indie and electro-pop for a playful bike
ride down the park, recalling Moldy Peaches
and Le Tigre along the way.
THE DRIFTERS: The New Theatre – DooHENWOOD: Nettlebed Folk Club –
wop, r’n’b and soul from the legendary vocal
Traditional English folk from the local singer
group, who have employed some 65 different
and Nettlebed club resident, out on tour to
members in their 70-year history.
promote her new album, `The Spyglass & The
ATOMIC KITTEN: O2 Academy – Oh dear,
Herringbone’.
all that money from the Iceland adverts run out,
OLIVER COATES & ELAINE
did it?
MITCHENER: OVADA Warehouse – OCM
CATWEAZLE CLUB: East Oxford
present a collaboration between Oliver Coates
Community Centre – Oxford’s longest running
and Elaine Mitchener, together exploring
and best open club night, with local singers,
“industrial intimacy”. Cellist Coates has been
musicians, poets, storytellers and more each
called the Thurston Moore of the cello for his
week.
experimental approach to the instrument, which
THE PETER FRYER BAND: The
has seen him working with Jonny Greenwood,
Wheatsheaf – Free gig in the Sheaf’s
Micachu and Mira Calix, while singer
Mitchener’s ability to range from gospel and jazz downstairs bar from the veteran local bluesman.
to classical singing and free improv has taken her OPEN MIC SESSION: The Half Moon
ACOUSTIC THURSDAY: Jude the Obscure
into the orbit of Aphex Twin and Goldie.
BLUES JAM: Ampleforth Arms, Risinghurst
TUESDAY 2
nd
YOUNG FATHERS: O2 Academy – Multinational offbeat hip hop from the Edinburgh trio
– see main preview
JAZZ CLUB with FUNK BAKE: The
Bullingdon – Free weekly live jazz at the Bully,
tonight with easy funk-jazz outfit Funk Bake.
OPEN MIC SESSION: James Street Tavern
WEDNESDAY 3rd
CHIP TAYLOR: The Bullingdon – Cult
Americana and the man behind `Wild Thing’
and `Angel of the Morning’ – see main preview
ELVIS COSTELLO: The New Theatre –
Punk poet and all-round living legend comes
back to town – see main preview
1000 CHAINS + K-LACURA + HELL’S
GAZELLES: The Wheatsheaf – Debut gig
for local melodic rock and metal outfit 1000
Chains, plus a return to action for thrash
merchants K-Lacura, and High Wycombe’s teen
rockers Hell’s Gazelle’s in support.
JAMES HILL & ANNE JANELLE: The
Holywell Music Room – Award-winning
ukulele and cello duo.
DAVID TUDOR: The Library – Emotive
acoustic pop from the local singer-songwriter.
THURSDAY 4th
PINEY GIR + RAINBOW RESERVOIR:
The Cellar – Kansas’ Piney Gir returns to
the venue where she played her first ever UK
gig before going on to be a Truck Festival
regular and cult favourite on the UK indie and
country scene. She’s back over here to plug
new album, `Mr Hyde’s Wild Ride’, combining
Grandaddy’s idiosyncratic alt.country, 60s
girl band pop and St Etienne’s sleek, playful
synth-pop. Support act Rainbow Reservoir are
FRIDAY 5th
ZAIA: The Bullingdon – Fresh from their
excellent set at the Punt in May, the soulful
local reggae and dub troupe launch their new
EP, `Challenge 145’.
SKYLARKIN’S SOUNDSYSTEM: The
Cellar – Count Skylarkin’ hosts his monthly
reggae, dancehall and ska party, tonight with
a live set from acclaimed singer/songwriter
Ed Rome and his band, playing tracks from
his `Snapshot: Dubs and Subs’ album, paying
homage to the classic sounds of 60s and 70s
Jamaican music, taking in vintage ska, reggae,
rocksteady and soul.
KLUB KAKOFANNEY with BALLOON
ASCENTS + GRANDMA’S HANDS +
MOIETY + FEMINISM: The Wheatsheaf
– Another fun mixed bag of sounds at this
month’s Klub Kak, including rising local indie
starlets Balloon Ascents, alongside folk-pop
newcomers Grandma’s Hands and eclectic
acoustic pop types Moiety.
HIDDEN ORCHESTRA: O2 Academy –
Cinematic, percussive fusion of jazz, classical,
drum&bass, rock and hip hop from Edinburgh’s
Hidden Orchestra.
CARA DILLON: The Cornerstone, Didcot –
Traditional folk music from the multiple awardwinning Irish singer.
TIM SAYS NO: Fat Lil’s, Witney – Modern
rock covers, from Foo Fighters and Arctic
Monkeys to Kings of Leon and Royal Blood.
SANCTUM: The Varsity Club – Monthly
metal club night, tonight with a sci-fi
and fantasy fancy dress theme among the
heavyweight classics and new cult hits.
SATURDAY 6th
BLACK RAINBOWS + OLD MAN
LIZARD: The Wheatsheaf – Monster dopecore at tonight’s Buried In Smoke gig – see
main preview
MARIUS JAMPOLSKIS: The Bullingdon
FUNERAL FOR A FRIEND: O2 Academy –
Bridgend’s emo heroes return to their youthful
bloodletting musical roots after a years of
stadium rock success and a revolving door
approach to members, only guitarist Kris
Coombs remaining from their original line-up.
RIFF RAFF: The Cellar – In tribute to
Malcolm Young – diagnosed with dementia
last year – Riff Raff perform two hours of AC/
DC classics in aid of Dementia UK at tonight’s
OxRox-hosted show.
WHAT YOU CALL IT, GARAGE?: The
Cellar – Garage, bass and grime club night.
MUGENKYO TAIKO DRUMMERS: The
Cornerstone, Didcot – Dynamic traditional
Japanese Taiko drumming spectacular.
THE BEATROOTS + THE
ULTRASOUNDS: The Old Fire Station
RORKE’S DRIFT: Fat Lil’s, Witney – Rock
covers.
THE PETE FRYER BAND: The Dolphin,
Wallingford
Monday 1st
YEARS & YEARS:
O2 Academy
The BBC Sound Of Awards, that kite mark
of quality, deals another ace with Years &
Years. As if Sam Smith wasn’t a thrilling
enough rock’n’roll rollercoaster ride,
London trio Years & Years’ triumph in the
Sound of 2015 vote proved that boundaries
are still there to be broken, statues still
ready to be kicked over. Come on, James
Bay came second and won the Critics’
Award, whatever that is. Move over Iggy
Pop, stand aside James Brown – here are the
21st Century’s pioneers and showmen. To
be honest, Nightshift did get mildly excited
for about 30 seconds when we read that
the award had gone to a “synth-pop band”.
And then of course we went and actually
listened to them and started to wonder at
what point an insipid beige gloop of 90s
r’n’b and boy band balladry shared the same
universe as The Human League or Ladytron.
And it doesn’t. The band’s Number 1 hit
`King’ could be any offcut from the last
One Direction album, while there’s more
than a hint of Disclosure about the band’s
sound. Such award winning is, these days,
a self-fulfilling prophesy when it comes to
commercial success, but that’s because the
people who vote for these things have a
vested interested in their unit shifting and
maintaining the stale status quo. Shit music
for idiots, and there’s no shortage of those.
SUNDAY 7th
TELLISON + BAD IDEAS + CASSELS:
The Wheatsheaf – London’s consistently bestkept-secret indie crew Tellison re-emerge for
a rare Oxford show courtesy of Idiot King, the
band’s intelligent, catchy blend of early emo in
the vein of Get Up Kids and Jimmy Eatworld,
militant funk and Foals-y trilling having seen
them support Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly in the
past. Support from Lincoln’s indie-punks Bad
Ideas and emerging local teen starlets Cassels,
with their bellicose blend of Drenge, Slaves and
Iceage noise-pop.
LUKE ALLMOND + ASTEROX + MATT
SEWELL & JULES MOSS + COSMOSIS +
CALLOW SAINTS: The Wheatsheaf (2.307pm) – Free afternoon of unplugged music in
the Sheaf’s downstairs bar, hosted by Klub
Kakofanney.
THE BIG BAND with FIVE STAR SWING:
The Cornerstone, Didcot – Classic swing
numbers from Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald,
Glenn Miller and Count Basie.
MOON LEOPARD + BEARD OF DESTINY
+ MATT SEWELL + TONY BATEY:
Donnington Community Centre (6pm) – Free
evening of acoustic music hosted by Moon
Leopard’s Jeremy Hughes and featuring local
bluesmen Beard of Destiny and Tony Batey as
well as arch acoustic indie chap Matt Sewell.
MONDAY 8th
LAURENCE JONES: The Bullingdon –
Stratford’s rising young blues guitarist Laurence
Jones returns to town at the Haven Club,
likened to Peter Green and Joe Bonamassa.
JOHN JONES & THE RELUCTANT
RAMBLERS: Nettlebed Folk Club –
Oysterband singer Jones completes his tour
of the Ridgeway with his Reluctant Ramblers
side project, joined by fellow Oysterband chap
Al Scott, as well as Bellowhead’s string player
Benji Kirkpatrick
TUESDAY 9th
JAZZ CLUB with ALVIN ROY & REEDS
UNLIMITED: The Bullingdon – Trad jazz,
bop and swing with veteran clarinettist Alvin
Roy and his Reeds Unlimited at tonight’s
weekly jazz club.
INTRUSION: The Cellar – Long-running
monthly goth and industrial club night with
residents Doktor Joy and Bookhouse keeping
it dark.
OPEN MIC SESSION: James Street Tavern
WEDNESDAY 10th
THE WILL GREGORY MOOG
ENSEMBLE: St John the
Evangelist – Synthesizers! Farsends
of ‘em! – see main preview
THE MIGHTY DISCO BISCUITS:
The Wheatsheaf – Seven-piece disco
and funk band playing classic from
the 70s onwards.
BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE:
The Cellar – 80s, new wave, disco,
synth-pop and glam club night,
playing everything from Kate Bush
and The Smiths to Madonna and
Talking Heads.
Tuesday 2nd
YOUNG FATHERS:
O2 Academy
At the point when they won the Mercury
Prize last year, Young Fathers’ `Dead’ had
sold just over 2,000 copies, which made
it one of the prize’s more unexpected
winners. Unsurprisingly it’s gone on to
sell a fair few more than that since. Little
surprise the Edinburgh-based trio who boast
Scottish, Liberian and Nigerian heritage,
had remained under the radar until that
particular triumph. Hip hop acts from
Edinburgh are like hens’ teeth and Young
Fathers’ particular brand of hip hop doesn’t
really fit in most expected tropes of the
genre. There’s rapping, but also plenty of
singing, with three distinct voices in the
mix. Add in some big pop hooks, plenty
of old-school electronica and a hefty dose
of African tribal rhythm and chanting and
you’ve got a magpie sound that refuses to
lie easily in any bed you try and tuck it into.
They’re been compared to Massive Attack,
Tricky, Nenah Cherry, MIA and even TV On
the Radio, but their restless global fusion
stands in its own wee field. They’ve not sat
on their Mercury laurels neither, releasing a
follow-up to `Dead’ already in the form of
`White Men Are Black Men Too’, a political
statement that sticks to its guns while
refusing to simplify racial politics. A oneoff band, then, and one who’ll no longer
struggle to shift a few units in future.
NIKKI LOY & PHIL HEARD: The
Cotswold Arms, Burford – Jazz-pop piano
balladry and stomping soul belters from the
local singer-songwriter.
THURSDAY 11th
KHAMSINA + ESTHER JOY LANE: The
Bullingdon – Reading singer/keyboard player
Khamsina mixes up electronica, jazz and folk,
SUPERMARKET: The Cellar – Student club
night playing pop, disco, UK garage and 90s
house.
OPEN MIC SESSION: The Half Moon
ACOUSTIC THURSDAY: Jude the Obscure
BLUES JAM: Ampleforth Arms, Risinghurst
FRIDAY 12th
Wednesday 3rd
CHIP TAYLOR with
JOHN PLATANIA:
The Bullingdon
Empty Room continues to bring top-notch
Americana cult legends to town. Chip
Taylor – brother of actor John Voight, uncle
to Angelina Jolie – will forever be known as
the man who wrote `Wild Thing’ and `Angel
of the Morning’, but beyond those two
standards, he spent the 1960s penning songs
made famous by Aretha Franklin, Frank
Sinatra, Janis Joplin and Dusty Springfield
before entering the 70s as one of the pivotal
figures in the emergence of country rock; his
1973 album `Last Chance’ remains a classic
of the genre. Ranging across the musical
spectrum, from pop and rock to country
and r’n’b, Taylor refused to pander to the
Nashville establishment and retired from
music in the 1980s to become a professional
gambler. He returned, though, in 1996 and
has released an album pretty much every
year since, now rightly regarded as an elder
statesman of the American roots scene,
held by many in as high esteem as the likes
of Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Willie
Nelson and Johnny Cash, whose voice his
sometimes resembles, and like whom he is
deserving of discovery by a new generation
of Americana fans. With his `Little Prayers’
trilogy just released, Taylor’s visit to the
UK – accompanied by regular collaborator
Platania, who’s also part of Van Morrison’s
band – will give local fans a chance to do
just that.
drawing comparisons with Joan Baez and
Kate McGarrigle. Great local support from
Esther Joy Lane, fresh from her showing at
The Punt with a mix of r’n’b and electronic
pop somewhere between Grimes and London
Grammar.
VIENNA DITTO + 31 HOURS + MYTHS +
ALIAS: The Jericho Tavern – Album launch
show for psychotic synthabilly blues duo
Vienna Ditto, plus spacey afro-pop crew 31
Hours.
CATWEAZLE CLUB: East Oxford
Community Centre
THE CADBURY SISTERS + MIRIAM
JONES: Fat Lil’s, Witney – Harmonyheavy traditional folk in the vein of First
Aid Kit and Fleet Foxes from the great, great
granddaughters of chocolate legend William
Cadbury.
THE MIGHTY REDOX: The Wheatsheaf –
Free gig in the downstairs bar from the swamprock favourites.
BOSSAPHONIK: The Cellar – Monthly
celebration of world dance, from Dancefloor
Latin and Afrobeat to Balkan beats and nujazz. Tonight’s party features a live set from
Tumbaito, exploring Latin jazz and house as
well as acid jazz, led by Venezuelan conga
player Williams Cumberbache, who has played
with Bjork and Pulp amongst others. Jazz dance
tunes before and after from host Dan Ofer and
guest DJ Giles Strother.
DENNY ILETT & CO. - A TRIBUTE TO
LED ZEPPELIN: The Bullingdon – Local
guitar veteran Denny gathers a selection of
chums, including Ady Davey, Jerry Soffe and
Andy Crowdy, to play classic Led Zep songs.
INVISIBLE VEGAS + SWEET PINK
+ ECHOPRAXIS: The Wheatsheaf –
Roadhouse blouse and Americana from
Invisible Vegas, plus funky 80s-influenced
rocking from student band Sweet Pink.
THE YOUNG ‘UNS: The Cornerstone,
Didcot – Traditional harmony singing, social
commentary and humour from the folk act.
BAD MONKEY: Fat Lil’s, Witney – Blues
and rock classics.
drummer Woody Woodmansey teaming up with
Heaven 17’s Glenn Gregory and Marc Almond
for a full run-through of the man’s first great
album, from `The Width of a Circle’ to `The
Supermen’.
GEMMA MOSS + NUDY BRONQUE +
PIPPA MORAN: The Wheatsheaf – Oddball,
sometimes startling and confrontational blend
of burlesque, cabaret and punk from Gemma
Moss, alongside Swindon’s dapper indie crew
Nudy Bronque.
THE SUGAR SISTERS: The Cornerstone,
Didcot – Colourful mix of 1940s swing, 90s
r’n’b and calypso from the swing out sisters.
SUDDEN GUNFIRE: Fat Lil’s, Witney –
Classic and modern rock covers.
SUNDAY 14th
WITTSTOCK: The Railway Inn, Culham –
Second day of the free charity festival with The
Matt Edwards Band, Mad Larry, Monkfish, The
Shapes, Beaverfuel, Les Clochards, Amy Bee,
Space Heroes of the People and many more –
see main preview
THE MOODY BLUES: The New Theatre –
Justin Hayward, John Lodge and Graeme Edge
continue their symphonic soft-rock odyssey.
MONDAY 15th
RYAN McGARVEY: The Bullingdon – Delta
slide blues and heavy rocking from guitarist
Ryan McGarvey at the Haven Club tonight,
McGarvey having recently been voted best new
talent by Guitar Player Magazine and now out
SATURDAY 13th
on a headline tour of the UK having previously
WITTSTOCK: The Railway Inn, Culham
played alongside Eric Clapton, BB King and
– First day of the free charity festival with
Jeff Beck.
sets from Mary Bendytoy, Agness Pike,
PETER KNIGHT’S GIGSPANNER:
Spinner Fall, Peerless Pirates, Man Make Fire,
Nettlebed Folk Club – Feast of Fiddles and
Laima Bite, Puppet Mechanic, Trev Williams,
Fairport fiddler Knight teams up with guitarist
Reckless Sleepers and more – see main preview Roger Flack and percussionist Vincent Salzfaas
DANNY & THE CHAMPIONS OF THE
for a night of intimate and innovative folk music.
WORLD: The Bullingdon – Uplifting
Americana and country-rocking in the vein
TUESDAY 16th
of Tom Petty, Neil Young and The Band from
SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT +
Danny George Wilson and gang, back in town
MOTHER CORONA + INDICA BLUES:
to promote their recent `Live Champs’ album.
The Wheatsheaf – Buried In Smoke host
SIMPLE with KOWTON & PEVERELIST: German psych-blues beasts Samsara Blues
The Bullingdon – Simple goes West Country
Experiment, incorporating Indian raga into their
with two of the leading lights of the Bristol
psychedelic blend of stoner rock, thrash and
dance scene together tonight. Producer Kowton blues. Local support from Didcot’s groove-core
has been building his reputation on the back
monsters Mother Corona and recent Punt stars
of his tough, grime-inspired take on traditional
Indica Blues with their rifftastic update on Blue
techno and house, while Peverelist – aka Tom
Cheer’s heavy-duty rocking.
Ford – has been a lynchpin of the Bristol
JAZZ CLUB with THE STUART
electronic music scene for years, founding
HENDERSON QUARTET: The Bullingdon
Punchdrunk Records as well as hosting the
– Free live jazz from trumpeter Stuart
Dubloaded club night.
Henderson and band.
LAST RITES + HIDDEN RIVETS + LEPER OPEN MIC SESSION: James Street Tavern
KING + TWISTED STATE OF MIND: The
Cellar – Church of the Heavy rock and metal
WEDNESDAY 17th
night with Oxford/Reading classic metallers
FUNCTIONS
ON THE LOW: The
Last Rites up alongside Bucks’ melodic rockers
Bullingdon
–
Underground
hip hop club night.
Hidden Rivets, Banbury’s stoner rockers Leper
OUT
OF
THE
BLUE:
The
New Theatre –
King, and young teenage thrash urchins Twisted
Enduring university a capella troupe continue
State of Mind.
to give classic and contemporary pop tunes the
TONY VISCONTI , WOODY
slightly smug and knowing treatment.
WOODMANSEY & GLENN GREGORY
SPARKY’S JAM NIGHT: James Street
with MARC ALMOND: O2 Academy – A
Tavern – Open mic and jam session.
celebration of Bowie’s classic `The Man Who
BURNING DOWN THE HOUSE: The
Sold the World’ album, with the record’s
producer Tony Visconti, and Spiders From Mars Cellar
THURSDAY 18th
WELL HUNG HEART + DAVE ARCARI:
The Bullingdon – Raw and dirty blues-punk
and garage rocking from California’s Well
Hung Heart, out on tour to promote new album
`Go Forth and Multiply’, adding a bit of Missy
Elliot sass into Stooges and Kills riffage by way
of Greta Valenti’s seriously rocking vocal lead.
LOVESHY: The Bullingdon
CATWEAZLE CLUB: East Oxford
Community Centre
OPEN MIC SESSION: The Half Moon
ACOUSTIC THURSDAY: Jude the Obscure
BLUES JAM: Ampleforth Arms, Risinghurst
FRIDAY 19th
THE AUREATE ACT + THE
RELATIONSHIPS + LUCY LEAVE + THE
RUSSIAN COWBOYS + FLUORITE: The
Bullingdon – Intricate and elaborate prog
rocking from local youngsters The Aureate Act,
playing alongside local scene godfathers The
Relationships, giving their lovely, sepia-tinted
Wednesday 3rd
ELVIS COSTELLO:
The New Theatre
A musical legend, no doubt about it, from
his earliest incarnation in a youthful folk
act to his groundbreaking 1977 debut for
Stiff Records, `My Aim Is True’, to his
current status of Grammy-winning elder
statesman, Costello has covered pretty much
every style of music – from new wave,
country, acoustic pop and soul to jazz,
classical and opera – and collaborated with
everyone from Paul McCartney and Bruce
Springsteen to Burt Bacharach and even Fall
Out Boy. Singer, songwriter and producer
(notably for The Specials), he’s done it all
and with style to spare. If his vast canon
of work hasn’t always been consistent,
it’s probably because he set himself such
high standards from the very beginning,
but over 40 years writing and performing,
in his characteristically literary style, he’s
never lost credibility and now 60 years old
remains an artist who defies both genre and
fashion. His last appearance in Oxfordshire
was a show-stealing headline set at
Cornbury back in 2013. Expect a typically
a-typical set of songs tonight, mixing classic
hits – from `Oliver’s Army’ and `Alison
to `Watching the Detectives and `(I Don’t
Want To Go To) Chelsea’ to obscurities from
across his extensive career, and unexpected
covers. Never forget, this is the man who
wrote `Shipbuilding’, simply one of the
most astonishing songs ever penned.
tweedy psychedelia a rare live outing.
DEEP COVER with GOLDIE feat. MC
GQ + OM UNIT + ZYKLON SOUND: The
Bullingdon – Deep Cover celebrates it second
birthday in the estimable company of jungle
and drum&bass godfather Goldie, the head
Metalhead playing classic tracks from the 90s
onwards. He’s joined by progressive bass types
Om Unit and local dancefloor destroyer Zyklon
Sound, while residents VLVT and Pilgrim spin
garage, grime, hip hop and techno.
STONEGHOST + FURY + CHILDREN
LOST IN TIME + SECOND RATE
ANGELS: The Wheatsheaf – OxRox gig
night with south London’s Stoneghost mixing
the old gods of Black Sabbath and Led Zep
with more contemporary influences like Tool,
Clutch and Pantera for a ferocious tech-deathcore storm.
TANDEM FESTIVAL: Hill End Centre
– The European-ranging environmentallyfriendly festival returns for its second annual
outing, featuring some 100 acts over 3 days as
well as workshops, storytelling and more. Acts
like Me & My Friends, Okina, The Turbans,
Balloon Ascents, Tribe of Tinkers, Art Theefe
and Bossaphonik’s Dan Ofer provide a mix
of folk, jazz, afrobeat, Balkan brass, indie and
experimental music, while 50-piece orchestra
Sinfonia Gaia make a rare festival appearance.
Festival-goers are encouraged to arrive by bike.
Visit tandemfestival.com for full line-up and
ticket details.
THE MIGHTY REDOX + DES BARKUS:
James Street Tavern – Swamp blues, funk,
ska and goodtime mayhem from The Mighty
Redox, alongside rock’n’roll veteran Barkus.
BLURD + NOASIS: Fat Lil’s, Witney –
Tribute to Blur. Tribute to Oasis.
SATURDAY 20th
BLOODSTOCK MUSIC TO THE MASSES
SEMI-FINAL III: The Bullingdon – Third
semi-final in the contest to win a slot at
Bloodstock Festival, tonight with Empire
Divided, Fallen From Grace, Silk Road and
Fleisch.
BEDROCK: The Bullingdon – Skeletor’s
monthly rock and metal club night, playing
classic hits and new releases from across the
genre.
KID KIN + GHOSTS IN THE
PHOTOGRAPHS + THE BECKONING
FAIR ONES + COSMOSIS: The Wheatsheaf
– Post-rock/math-rock/electro noisemaker Kid
Kin plays his first headline show, his lithe,
volume-heavy soundscapes nodding to Mogwai,
The Album Leaf and Tall Ships. He’s joined
by recent Punt stars Ghosts in the Photographs
with their heavy-duty post-rock in the vein of
Godspeed and Explosions in the Sky. There’s
also a debut gig from The Beckoning Fair Ones,
the new group formed by former members of
Dallas Don’t and Deer Chicago, plus electroacoustic rockers Cosmosis.
FAHRAN + SUDDEN GUNFIRE: The
Cellar – OxRox gig night with heavyweights
Fahran, who have toured with UFO, The
Answer and Heaven’s Basement amongst
others.
TANDEM FESTIVAL: Hill End Centre –
Music from Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, the
Saturday 6th
BLACK RAINBOWS
/ OLD MAN LIZARD:
The Wheatsheaf
It’s one of the unbreakable laws of rock
and roll that bands with the word Black in
their name are invariably great: Sabbath,
Uhuru, Rebel Motorcycle Club, Mountain,
Angels, Box Recorder – all mighty in
myriad ways. To that list, please add Rome’s
Black Rainbows, a band who could only
ever be of the heavy, psychedelic variety
with a moniker like that. That the trio’s
latest album is called `Hawkdope’ probably
brings thing into even sharper focus. Here’s
a band who – surprise! – take Black Sabbath
as a starting point and take it for a ride on
the back of a motorbike along the scuzziest
dirt tracks, calling in on MC5, Hawkwind,
Fu Manchu and Monster Magnet for a few
beers and smokes along the way. They’re a
gnarly mix-up of classic 70s rock and 90s
stoner groove, with some seriously dirty
guitar noise in their dope-fuelled space
explorations. They got riffs, and their riffs
reach the sky. Great support from Suffolk’s
Old Man Lizard – fronted by Meadows
drummer Jack Newnham – bringing a
bluegrass rootsiness to Kyuss, Neurosis and
Clutch-inspired stoner/sludge noise. Another
seriously quality night courtesy of Buried In
Smoke.
Balkans and Oxford at the eco-fest.
DAMN GOOD REASON: Fat Lil’s, Witney
– Classic rock covers.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR: The Cellar –
House and techno club night.
THE JIGANTICS + KIRSTY BROMLEY:
Tiddy Hall, Ascott-under-Wychwood –
Country, folk, Cajun and blues gumbo from
The Jigantics at tonight’s Wychwood Folk Club
show.
SUNDAY 21st
TANDEM FESTIVAL: Hill End Centre –
Third and final day of the international eco
festival.
MAD LARRY + SPOON THEORY +
TWIZZ TWANGLE + PURPLE MAY: The
Wheatsheaf (3.30-7pm) – Unplugged afternoon
of music down stairs in the Sheaf with veteran
country and bluesman Mad Larry, and madcap
music maker Twizz Twangle.
MONDAY 22nd
HAMILTON LOOMIS: The Bullingdon –
Soulful, Texan-flavoured blues from the singer,
guitarist and blues harpist at tonight’s Haven
Club night.
MARTIN SIMPSON, ANDY CUTTING &
NANCY KERR: Nettlebed Folk Club – Three
of British folk music’s pre-eminent interpreters
of traditional songs and tunes join forces for an
intimate session at Nettlebed’s famous folk club.
TUESDAY 23rd
MARMOZETS: O2 Academy – Splenetic
post-hardcore from West Yorkshire’s siblingheavy screamers, back in Oxford to promote
Top 40 debut album `The Weird and Wonderful
Marmozets’, after being nominated for Best
Newcomers at the Kerrang! awards.
JAZZ CLUB with THE RORY McINROY
BAND: The Bullingdon – Veteran jazz pianist
Rory McInroy and his band play live at the
Bully’s weekly jazz club.
OPEN MIC SESSION: James Street Tavern
WEDNESDAY 24th
BEL ESPRIT + SCOUT KILLERS: The
Wheatsheaf – Double bill of rock from
Southampton’s Bel Esprit and Bristol’s Scout
Killers.
THURSDAY 25th
THE BIG BLUES NIGHT OUT: The Cellar
– It’s All About the Music’s monthly blues
Wednesday 10th
THE WILL GREGORY
MOOG ENSEMBLE:
St John the Evangelist
Nightshift likes synthesizers. A lot. And
when we think of synthesizers we think
of the name Robert Moog, whose early
modular synths were integral to the
popularising of electronic music, from
prog to funk to film soundtracks and the
first wave of synth-pop. Tonight’s concert,
jointly presented by Oxford Contemporary
Music and Pindrop Performances, is a
journey through all those words, led by
Will Gregory – best known as one half
of Goldfrapp, and a long-term Moog
aficionado – and joined by a stellar band
that includes Portishead’s Adrian Utley, who
has an enviable catalogue of experimental
electronic music to his name, and composer
Graham Fitkin. Together the ensemble will
be performing original compositions as well
as reinterpretations of classic pieces from
Bach, John Carpenter, Burt Bacharach,
Oliver Messiaen and Wendy Carlos. It’s
a trip into a world when electronic music
was new and felt genuinely otherworldly.
Just look at that picture. That’s a lot of
synthesizers you’ve got there. But, as the
sign above the Nightshift office door says,
you can never have too many synthesizers.
blow-out, tonight featuring The Autumn Saints
and recent Punt stars Little Brother Eli, with
their raw, rootsy mix of White Denim, Jack
White and Black Keys.
ROUGH MUSIC + BELLYEYESMILE +
KANCHO!: The Library – Smash Disco and
Idiot King present a free night of noise, with
Cardiff’s raw post-punk and hardcore crew
Rough Music launching their new EP, with
support from Reading’s post-punk prog-dance
types Bellyeyesmile, and noisy bass and drums
duo Kancho!.
THE HAZE + BLAME FATE + AMORAL
COMPASS: The Jericho Tavern – It’s All
About the Music gig night with Witney’s
teenage soft rockers The Haze, and lo-fi gothic
dirge-core pop from Amoral Compass.
CATWEAZLE CLUB: East Oxford
Community Centre
OPEN MIC SESSION: The Half Moon
ACOUSTIC THURSDAY: Jude the Obscure
BLUES JAM: Ampleforth Arms,
Risinghurst
FRIDAY 26th
STORYTELLER + THE OTHER
DRAMAS + A RELUCTANT ARROW:
The Wheatsheaf – It’s All About the Music
gig night with jazz and ska-inflected rockers
Storyteller, plus garage pop duo The Other
Dramas.
ABBA MANIA: The New Theatre – Big
stage Abba tribute.
NEVER THE BRIDE: The Northcourt,
Abingdon – Nikki Lambourn belts it out in
the style of Janis Joplin and Tina Turner with
her band at Abingdon’s new live music venue
in the grounds of Abingdon Utd.
THE HAZE: Fat Lil’s, Witney
SATURDAY 27th
GAPPY TOOTH INDUSTRIES with
31 HOURS + UNKNOWN SOLDIERS
+ SYLVA KAY: The Wheatsheaf – GTI
celebrate their 13th birthday with another
mixed bag of music, tonight featuring fidgety,
slightly proggy afropop-flavoured crew
31Hours, alongside Gosport’s airily doomy
Unknown Soldiers, and American ex-pat Sylva
Kay, inspired by The Breeders, Belly and
Buzzcocks.
THE OVERTONES: The New Theatre –
Barbershop quartet dressed by the Nation
of Islam, classic a capella covers, and an
exquisite sense of the grotesque, some of
which is intentional.
ALPHABET BACKWARDS + GET
LOOSE: Appleton Village Hall – Benefit gig
for Appleton Primary School with sunshiny
synth-popsters Alphabet Backwards, back
in action with new single `Fingertips’, plus
bluesy rockers Get Loose.
EYECON: Fat Lil’s, Witney – Mod and
Britpop covers, from The Who and Small
Faces to Blur and Oasis.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR: The Cellar
Saturday 13th – Sunday 14th
WITTSTOCK: The
Railway Inn, Culham
The nomadic annual free festival, now into
its second decade on the local gig calendar,
returns to The Railway Inn, making the trip
out from town much easier – it’s right next
to Culham station, so you can pop down
on the train. As ever the event provides a
two-day selection of local bands and solo
artists, while raising money for charity
through raffles and the like, with The Young
Women’s Music Project and OXSRAD this
year’s beneficiaries.
Saturday’s line-up features industrialgoth crew Mary Bendytoy, alongside
theatrical thrash merchants Agness Pike
(pictured); post-punk noisenicks Spinner
Fall; darkly soulful songstress Laima
Bite; psych-folkies Reckless Sleepers,
and acoustic music from the likes of Trev
Williams, Mark Bosley, Purple May and
Puppet Mechanic. Moving onto Sunday
and there’s rocking blues from The Matt
Edwards Band; country blues from Mad
Larry; swashbuckling indie and rockabilly
from Peerless Pirates; country-gothsters
Monkfish; new wave and r’n’b from The
Shapes; acid house and synth-pop from
Space Heroes of the People; Francophile
rock’n’rollers Les Clochards and post-punk
indie rocking from White Beam, amongst a
host of others. Free music in a good cause –
well worth the trip out of town.
SUNDAY 28th
BLUES JAM: Fat Lil’s, Witney (3pm) – Open
blues jam.
MONDAY 29th
BRASS MONKEY: Nettlebed Folk Club –
John Kirkpatrick and Martin Carthy team up for
one last tour of their classic English folk music.
TUESDAY 30th
JAZZ CLUB with ALVIN ROY & REEDS
UNLIMITED: The Bullingdon – Trad jazz,
bop and swing with veteran clarinettist Alvin
Roy and his Reeds Unlimited at tonight’s
weekly jazz club.
OPEN MIC SESSION: James Street Tavern
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THE PUNT
Various venues
The stage at the Purple Turtle is
dedicated to the late sound engineer,
blues fan, musician, husky owner and
huskier singer, Tony Jezzard. If his
spirit dropped by tonight, it would
certainly appreciate the volume levels
on display, but more likely his spectre
would smile wryly at the tales of a
locked venue, a PA shoved together at
break-neck speed, and an electrocuted
soundman. After such a start to the
proceedings, it seems churlish to
moan about the stage running late
when James Serjeant has had the
national grid pumped through his
skinny frame, so we start our night at
the Cellar, with only the most cursory
grumble... just for the sake of form,
you understand.
There, Balkan Wanderers are kickstarting the night with more crackling
energy than James Serjeant’s first
pee of the night (yes, yes, we’ll stop
now), buoying the crowd with spicy
East European pop, and inspiring
some surprisingly early hedonistic
dancing, considering it’s Oxford on
a Wednesday and most of us are still
digesting our burritos. Superficially
they resemble gypsy punk rabble
rousers Gogol Bordello, but listen
beyond the thumping drums and
shoutalong choruses, and you’ll find
that Balkan Wanderers have replaced
the wild aggression with chirpy,
quirky mid-80s indie pop, in the vein
of Grab, Grab The Haddock, or even
Stump. This allows the band’s secret
weapon, the conversational intimacy
of Claire Heaviside’s clarinet, to slowly
steal the show. In what will become a
leitmotif throughout the evening, we
overhear someone saying the band
should have finished the Punt.
Back at the PT, The Shapes have
now taken the stage, offering a breezy
cocktail of Radio 2 melodies and
light rock styles. They have a track
that resembles The Beautiful South;
they have a tune that sounds like Tom
Petty; they even have a song called
`Tom Petty’ that sounds a wee bit like
10cc and a wee-er bit like Darts. In
many hands this would all be pretty
generic fluff, but there’s a mercurial,
alchemical sensibility at work that
keeps the music interesting; take `Mr
Sandman’, a mash-up of The Beatles’
`Something’ and Pink Floyd’s `Brain
Damage’, with keyboard player Colin
Henney throwing properly loopy jazzdance poses as he doles out elegant
fruity chords.
Entering The Wheatsheaf you
can really tell that this is the only
Punt venue that exists solely for
listening to live rock, such is the
room’s dinginess, the cosy crush
of the crowd, and the full-fat glory
of the sound. It’s a sound that suits
Ghosts In The Photographs, who
open the dam to wave upon wave of
Explosions In The Sky-styled guitar
noise. Perhaps we’ve come across this
tumescent post-rock business before,
and Ghosts do nothing new, but who
ever complained that a sunset was
unoriginal. Imposing, impressive stuff.
From imposing to intimate and My
Crooked Teeth, the first act at Turl
Street Kitchen, which remains both
packed and respectfully quiet for
each performer. “I mean everything
to someone,” sings Jack Olchawski,
as if trying to convince himself more
than anyone of the fact. He reminds
us of Evan Dando at times, which is
handy as he then introduces a song
called `Evan Dando’, bringing a little
of his other band, ToLiesel’s drama to
his solo set.
Volume levels increase appropriately
for the Punt’s heaviest act this year,
Indica Blues, dispensing with any
niceties, interludes or lulls and
simply channelling Blue Cheer riffs
straight into your brain. The songs
are like runaway steamrollers and we
don’t envy anyone – band members,
soundmen, structural engineers – who
have to try to put the brakes on. We
swear they announce one song as
`Feed Me Pie’, and hope we heard
right as that’s a fantastic title for a
stoner-metal track, as well as neatly
reflecting their meaty riffs and gravylike bass fluidity.
Certainly they’d flatten Cameron
AG and his slight, brittle tunes,
which, particularly on the strength of
the poignant piano ballad with which
he ends, would be a crying shame.
The Youth Lagoon comparisons are
apt, and one wonders whether, like
Trevor Powers, he might be tempted
to scale up for live performances and
whether that might actually diminish
his lovely, heartbroken music’s
effectiveness.
“Money is the devil’s pie.” Did
Rhymeskeemz really just say that?
Is there a pie theme going on tonight,
or is the beer we’ve consumed so far
creating Freudian slips in our heads?
Ah, now, he certainly did just slip
“I’m sick of my dad’s impressions”
into a litany of politico-social
criticisms, which we like a lot. Yes,
Outside The White Rabbit, a Morris
troupe is giving it the full hanky.
Considering it’s as close as we can
get to a native Cotswold music style,
there really should be some Morris
on the Punt bill one day. Get your
applications in for 2016, chaps!
Inside, White Beam, featuring
local band veteran Jeremy Leggett,
are impressive with shimmering,
driving guitars rocking the house
Chameleons style while the punters
snack on dough balls and slices of
pizza. Plenty of older Punters feel a
warm glow of the post-Ride Oxford
sound displayed here, and the fact
it’s so packed in the pub it’s nigh on
impossible to see anything of the
band, tells you all you need to know
about their broad appeal.
the most rapturously received and
best populated sets of the night
in the Wheatsheaf and plenty of
bands could learn a little from them
when it comes to stage presence,
even if Marty Pellow is the obvious
comparison. The band tear up the
Sheaf with classic riffs, sounding like
they’re straight from the British blues
revival of the 60s and 70s. Those
riffs sounded great back then and age
hasn’t withered them any – this Little
Bro is growing up fast.
Peerless Pirates of course are in no
hurry to grow up – and why should
they when dressing up as a pirate and
singing songs about drinking tequila is
so much fun. They start loud and fast
and just get louder and faster as their
set progresses. By the finale it’s not
just their coterie of similarly-attired
fans who are considering attaching
rigging to the Cellar’s bar and sailing
it – bottles of rum and all – out into
the wide ocean.
Sensible hats back on we opt instead
Over at the Turl Street Kitchen, 18
for Wardens, last on at the Turtle.
year old Katy Jackson is pulling the
A week previously we’d seen them
carpet from those over twice her age
play a ramshackle, out-of-tune set at a
with some delicately tuneful acoustic
near-empty Wheatsheaf and worried
ditties. The first impression is of Joni
what we’d let ourselves in at the
Mitchell without the paranoia and
Punt, but everything that was wrong
patchouli, but it soon becomes clear
that night is spot on tonight, a solid
that there’s a sardonic side to Katy,
wall of heavy rock cut through with
as if she’s looking askance at her
a little bite and guile, like Queens of
melodies and raising her eyebrows at
the Stone-Age taking tips from Franz
her own undoubted ability. Our next
reference point is the smooth cynicism Ferdinand. Despite the venue’s air-con
being set to `Arctic’ they also play to
of Evan Dando, and before we know
it we’ve spotted a Lou Reed influence a sizeable crowd, so we reckon it’s a
victory on every level.
in the vocal delivery. A downbeat
acoustic cover of Outkast’s `Hey Ya’
seals the deal – it shouldn’t work, but Sometimes we worry that the Turl
Street Kitchen is too refined for the
it does, to quite magical effect.
maelstrom of spilt pints and tinnitus
that is The Punt. In three minutes
Back at the Purple Turtle for another
very young act, fraternal duo Cassels, flat Despicable Zee has destroyed
who take the flea-bitten sneer of early that notion by calling the audience
Sebadoh and weld it messily onto the grumpy, and starting a good natured
argument. Then again, Zahra Tehrani
fuzzy tuneful surge of The Pixies.
probably starts an argument at every
They’ve got the flu today, and if so,
rehearsal. And she’s the only band
we’re quite excited to see them at
member. Beyond acting like a surly
peak fitness. Apparently, we hear, if
drumming Jack Dee, her music
they were feeling better, They Could
stretches from drunken clockwork
Have Closed The Punt (mark 2).
electro in the style of Plone, through
At every Punt there’s one act that ends MIA-flavoured attitude pop and a kind
of Capitol K home-made doodling, to
up with a crowd that’s just a little
a beery hip hop barn dance featuring
too large. Sometimes it’s a band that
various local MC luminaries... some
just proves too big a draw, as anyone
of whom may have even known how
who stood craning at the doorway to
the track goes. This is messy, abusive,
see The Young Knives or Little Fish
unfinished music, of the sort that
in earlier years will attest, but often
dodges every traditional indicator of
it’s a quieter act who can’t battle
quality. It’s almost certainly the best
past the increasingly, ahem, relaxed
set we see all night.
crowd. Whilst Water Pageant might
not have been quite as up against it
Zaia and Maiians on at the same
in the volume stakes as The August
time? Don’t the timetable planner
List a few years ago, we can’t really
realise how confused we are by
hear anything from the back of the
this point? How about some other
White Rabbit but some pleasant
vowels to help us get our bearings?
vocal fragments and what sounds
The former are a phenomenally slick
like a mellotron. A couple of tasty
reggae band, with plenty of juicy
ingredients, doubtless, but we can’t
bass and stabbing brass, who sound
really judge the dish.
wonderful in the Cellar’s resonant
gig space. Strictly, this is the sort of
Little Brother Eli provide one of
band you want to listen to at a festival,
in a set long enough to allow you to
take all the substances, read a book,
fall in love, start a political party
with a stranger and still have time to
nip to the cake stall a few times, but
our brief exposure tonight leave us
impressed.
Maiians are equally dancefloorfocused, but a little more ornate, with
their excellent cross-rhythms and
organic kraut-electronica keyboard
lines. Songs like ‘Lemon’ gradually
take shape and stir themselves into
lithe, loose-limbed action, propelled
inexorably towards climax by inventive
percussion. Post-rock can be a dour,
earnest, oppressive affair, played by
people who look like they’ve only ever
seen the inside of their own bedrooms,
never mind the inside of a club. But
you get the impression that Maiians
exist to translate the feeling of dazed
euphoria that comes with waking up at
sunrise on a beach in Ibiza into a form
that even chin-stroking Mogwai fans
can understand.
And, incidentally, we hear they both
Could Have Closed The Punt.
Like Cassels, Esther Joy Lane has
apparently climbed from her sick bed
to play for us. Seriously, we’d never
have known. The trick of unfurling
rich reverbed vocal melodies over
freeze-dried beats suggests a strong
Grimes influence (as does the T-shirt
Esther wears on her Soundcloud
page), but there’s a sultry steeliness
to the delivery that contrasts with
Grimes’ pastel comedown haze. If this
set might have been suited to a PA
bigger than what could be squeezed
into the corner of a city pub, in quality
it cuts easily through sonic paucity.
A moment of calm before the climax
then, with Adam Barnes, who, as we
enter the room, is indulging his less
sorrowful side with a rousing cover of
`Hit Me Baby One More Time’, and
his intimate, seemingly effortlessly
soulful set is only slightly marred by
the realisation the Turl Street Kitchen
have closed the bar.
Rainbow Reservoir back at The
White Rabbit. The trio play a punky
pepped-up pop racket, with a devil
take the hindmost insouciance, but
without any vestige of aggression.
In this sense the band reflects the
singer’s American roots, harking back
to US college keg parties rather than
British commuter town basements,
red cups hoisted rather than glasses in
the face. The wordy songs sound a bit
like Kim Deal reading out her PhD,
while the best of the tunes are packed
with fire, fun and energy. So much so,
we think the band Could Have Closed
The Punt.
Oh, wait a minute. They did. Right, is
the bar still open?
Words: David Murphy, Colin May,
Ben Woolhead, Stuart Fowkes, Sue
Foreman, Rob Langham.
photos:Sam Shepherd and Giulia Biasibetti
LIVE
there’s a lot to enjoy about this rapper,
who has a vibrant wit that keeps his
bars the right side of cliché, and a nice
rhythmic variation.
Maiians
Cassels
Katy Jackson
White Beam
Cameron A.G.
Despicable Zee
Ghosts in the
Photographs
Rhymeskeemz
BUNTY / ESTHER JOY LANE
The Bullingdon
Last month’s Punt star Esther Joy
Lane entrances tonight’s modest
audience with her deep voice
and poignant vignettes, sung
over sparse digital soundscapes.
Echoes of The xx and London
Grammar serve as reference
points, hopefully just to launch
off deeper into territory of her
own. ‘Travelling Light’ is simply
gorgeous, and would make the
perfect soundtrack to a cinematic
nighttime road trip.
Bunty is Brighton-based
experimental musician Kassia
Zermon, also active in three
other bands in the city’s Beatabet
collective. Tonight’s show
is an immersive experience
with multimedia elements
throughout. Various costumed
collaborators infiltrate the audience
and wind the way to the stage,
notably two extra vocalists
helping her realize and project
the complex songs, using great
harmonies, invented languages
and other challenging elements. Sounds are created then looped
using foot pedals to make pieces
based on songs but unique to every
performance. There’s some kind of theme
involving the collection of seven
special powers, though it never
becomes clear quite how we’re
supposed to participate. Good use
of video helps us enter into her
rather strange world and a distinct
Japanese element starts to emerge.
This comes partly from a strong
visual use of colour, down to DayGlo eyelashes, and musically with
80s festival favourites The Frank
Chickens springing to mind; a more
recent signpost could be Cornelius,
Japan’s most consistently intriguing
musical figure. Refracting
cardboard specs are handed out,
turning the Bully’s lights into
rainbow shards, and by the end
she has the whole crowd dancing a
conga round the floor.
All this leaves us heading for
the exit with wide smiles, but
ultimately her work is still
in progress. Listening to the
‘Multimos’ album later fails to
recreate the atmosphere, coming
across as a little too willfully
wacky. A forthcoming showcase
gig at The Jazz Café is a brave
move, and will depend on enough
people buying into her charming if
somewhat confusing universe.
Art Lagun
DEAD RAT ORCHESTRA
The North Wall
Tonight is not a conventional gig
but it is a concept that Dead Rat
Orchestra are more than at home
with. The drone-folk trio provide
a live soundtrack to the 1920s
documentary Nanook Of The North.
For those who don’t know, this film
is a touchstone of early cinematic
cultural anthropology, studying
the still mostly untouched Inuit
communities who dwell high in the
Arctic circle. The film was made so
long ago that it didn’t come with any
kind of conventional soundtrack; up
step Dead Rat Orchestra.
Of course, our ears, after years
of being exposed to Hollywood’s
output have expectations of what
a film score and foleys sound like.
Dead Rat Orchestra do take that on
board but their attitude is to take
the ‘expected’ foley sounds and
incorporate them into the fabric of
the music. Splashing water, rattling
to match kayaks being readied and
others beside become just more
instruments for DRO - and I would
guess they have near 100 on stage
with them tonight.
A lot of the music is long, sweeping
drones of strings and organs
building to crescendos that aren’t
necessarily implied by the visuals
but feel entirely natural with the
emotive queue the band and the
director lay out.
The really striking parts of their
performance are when everything
is stripped back to minimal and
almost conventional western music.
A repeating ukulele or guitar
line, flanked by ‘wind’ created by
blowing down harvested church
organ pipes beautifully highlight the
utterly all-consuming isolation and
struggle of this people’s existence.
There are any number of ways to
soundtrack any film; straightforward
orchestral arrangements with foley
that match the visuals perfectly,
or perhaps entirely abstract
soundscapes that complement and
stand alone from the film.
The real power in Dead Rat
Orchestra’s arrangement is that they
mix the two. You could take this
music away from the film and never
know that’s what had seeded it, but
with the visuals you really feel the
effort it takes to build an igloo or
simply get up in the morning under
such strenuous circumstances. What
bowls me over the most is that it is
all live, every sound, in one go, for
90 minutes of truly moving music.
Matt Chapman-Jones
KAIROS 4TET WITH EMILIA
MARTENSSON
St John The Evangelist
On the surface Kairos 4tet are a
jazz band: keys, bass, drums and
saxophone, with some vocals. But
to sum them up in such simple
terms does them a disservice.
Scratch the surface and you begin
to see a huge range of influences
that are brought together elegantly
to make a highly compelling
whole.
Across the course of their set
you can pick out elements of
contemporary classical sounds in
the vein of Nils Frahm; the stark
repetitive motions of Reich and
his contemporaries; r’n’b beats
that reflect their MOBO Awarddriven rise to fame, as well as
some perhaps more traditional jazz
sounds of Dave Brubeck. None of
these are present to showcase any
one idea but just are part of the
makeup of the cohesive whole.
Their set is largely long jams
around central themes found on
their recorded material, with each
instrumentalist given their rightful
chance to show off every so often.
These tracks are punctuated by
appearances by guest vocalist
Emilia Martensson. Her vocals,
though powerful and nuanced, lead
to the band stepping back and the
energy gettin a little lost, and the
overall tone strays a little more
towards Hollywood soundtrack
rather than polymath jazz.
`Ell’s Bells’, a lullaby for main
man Adam Waldman’s niece, is
beautiful, but when Martensson
steps back to vocalisation, letting
the band stretch again, is where we
get the best moments of the night;
when no particular voice is most
prominent, everything meshes into
a tapestry of jazz, folk, pop, r’n’b
and plenty more besides.
Kairos 4tet are a band that stretch
out in every direction, pulling at
every sound they can find. They are
all masters of their craft and so are
their guests (live and on record) but
perhaps every so often they stretch
a little too far and leave behind
what makes them magical.
Matt Chapman-Jones
ORANGE VISION / P/R/P/E /
REUBEN’S ROCKET
The Wheatsheaf
Some nights it all comes together,
when the bands are as hungry as
they are talented. Some nights
the expectations may have been
dampened by the heavy rain
everyone travelled through to get
there, yet each successive act at
tonight’s Gappy Tooth Industries
show spurs the following one to a
personal best, which in turn stokes
the audience into bellowing cheers
and forgetting their wet socks.
Reuben’s Rocket, the lead off in
this joyous cavalcade, is the alterego of Ollie Base, tonight sans
band, and with Henry Batten sat on
top of his percussion box. He seems
younger than Sainsbury’s economy
brandy, yet is still able to reflect
between songs that, “you realise as
you get older how lame your lyrics
used to be,” as he launches into the
highlight of his new EP, `Let Me
Be’, with his to die for killer vocal,
somewhere between Nick Drake
and Colin Blunstone’s sanded down
phrasing, leading to the first of this
evening’s ovations.
P/R/P/E (Punk/Rock/Pop/
Electronic), a musical pseudonym
of Bristolian Finlay Shakespeare,
picks up the challenge, in his sixth
form white shirt, his low-slung
guitar pushed to one side, as he
fires up the obligatory one man
band computer-keyboard gadget. He
looks so uncool he is utterly cool,
and quickly morphs into Carter
USM with a nice line in Paul
Weller-esque brutal syntax, (“read
all the pamphlets and watch all
the tapes”), sweating like a young
Lou Reed, and raising the ante
as he picks up on the audience’s
enthusiasm for the occasion.
Orange Vision storm the stage,
keen not to let the reverberations
leave the room, and show from
the off they have become stadium
sized and appropriately musically
tight. With their theatrical front
man Edmund Quigley, they have
the look and feel of great 90s bands
like Pulp and Kula Shaker, but with
galloping doses of The Horrors and
The Cure thrown in the mix. They
intro with The Sundays-like jangle
of `Force Field’ before going on to
seize the room by the throat with
unbelievably epic new song `The
Dark Around The Eyes’. If that
is their fresh direction they could
become quite something.
Tonight isn’t about Soundcloud
or Bandcamp or downloads; it’s
full-blooded, live music at its very
best, reaching the parts that tinny,
compressed digital playback cannot
reach. Go out in the rain, and feel it.
Paul Carrera
photo: Sam Shepherd
THE THURSTON MOORE BAND
O2 Academy
UNDERSMILE / EARTHMASS / D GWALIA
The Wheatsheaf
Despite the label, there’s something rather
uplifting about doom. Tonight’s show encapsulates
varying levels of the genre, but not once does it
ever feel like the kind of soundtrack that might
accompany hopelessly staring into the abyss.
D. Gwalia’s albums `The Iodine Trade’ and `In
Puget Sound’ are both understated gems, packed
with raw emotion delivered via the medium of
bleak, wonky folk. In a live setting, his songs are
stripped back and rougher, and possess a slightly
more aggressive quality. Pitched somewhere
between Mark Lanegan’s gravelly whisky drawl
and Bleeding Heart Narrative’s gothic tales, his
spellbinding performance is both fragile and
defiant. Earthmass’ approach to the void is one that
requires vast quantities of pharmaceutical
assistance. Huge stoner riffs and psychedelic
overtones are their approach, and whilst there’s
nothing here that’s particularly original, there’s no
doubting that they pack a real punch.
But tonight is really all about a rare hometown
performance from Undersmile. On an audience
level they’ve been rather unappreciated in
Oxford, but after a lot of hard work, a Roadburn
appearance, and the recent release of `Anhedonia’
(rightfully considered one of the best albums to
be produced by an Oxford band in recent years)
the tide seems to be turning judging by the large,
enthusiastic turnout. Tonight’s set concentrates on the band’s newer
material, their expanded sonic palette and
LITTLE RED / WATER PAGEANT /
MIA de LANGE & DONAL HILL
The Jericho Tavern
There aren’t many times you can say a local gig trumps three years’ experience
watching bands, and although those years may be lined with golden moments,
there’s something inside all the acts tonight egging their souls on to higher
realms of musical aptitude.
Newcomers to Oxford Mia De Lange and Donal Hill, originally from Norway
and Ireland respectively, are no exception. Recalling June Tabor and Richard
Ashcroft in vocal tone, their harmonies are well rehearsed and, in the case
of one strikingly sombre violin torch song, as bittersweet as a chargrilled
marshmallow. Theirs is a reinvention of rustic folk that tugs softly at the
heartstrings and repents towards a higher, far-off plain.
The endless change of textural colour from Water Pageant, playing ahead of
their Oxford Punt set, is a headrush as much as a questioning of the voices
inside your own head. A fragmentation that for once feels warranted as these
starlit elegiacs teeter against the crossover loop pedal, electric guitar and Moog
impressive evolution in clear evidence.
Opening with `Sky Burial’, it’s clear to see
that the band is operating on a different level.
The twin vocals of Taz Corona Brown and Hel
Sterne twist around each other perfectly; their
peculiar harmonies switch between resigned
croon, haunted whisper and raw screams with a
curious elegance. Musically, these labyrinthine
songs feel almost like intuitive improvisations
switching through emotional gears at will,
and always finding a resonance. No longer
relying on bombast alone, the likes of `Song
Of Stones’ and `Atacama Sunburn’ prove that
Undersmile are writing songs that are both heavy,
and delicate; doom never sounded this good.
Undersmile sound like nobody else, on a local
or international level, we’re very lucky to have
them. Sam Shepherd piano sample triggering, with wishes for the wind to blow the city into space.
It’s a real trip of a sound, picking up where Chicagoans Zelienople left off and
My Bloody Valentine signed the envelope with some spilled claret. There are
no definites, only destinations ahead; let’s hope it’s not underwater OX4.
Also red and in love with the crowd are folk trio Little Red. They exude a raw
energy tonight with occasionally missed cues, but with a ballsy finish they end
up potting many in evergreen holes. Their reshaping of much of the material
from their debut `Sticks And Stones’ LP is a moss-covered picture, looking and
feeling like an old re-enactment of a forgotten springtime mosaic with tracks
like `Chapters’ (“Hide the books and heirlooms / Bury them away”) and the
fragile `The Huntsman’, where Hayley Bell sings that she’ll never find true
love. One thing that’s for certain is all the songs tonight are played from the
heart, and sometimes you can’t ask for more than that.
Andy Poplin
In the interest of full disclosure, I should
begin by confessing that when it comes to
Thurston Moore, I’m a drooling, hopelessly
smitten, weak-at-the-knees fanboy and
have been ever since I first heard `Dirty’ in
1992. When Moore and Kim Gordon – the
too-cool-for-school king and queen of altrock – announced their split in 2011, and
Sonic Youth went on a hiatus that looks
increasingly permanent, it was like a death in
the family.
When friends break up, you don’t want to
be seen to be taking sides – but, as intriguing
as the arty, esoteric songs Gordon has
recorded with Bill Nace as Body/Head are,
it’s Moore’s post-split projects that have
really won my affections. Gordon’s loss
was very much the UK’s gain, with Moore
now resident in Stoke Newington – which
is where he met his latest musical partnerin-crime, Oxford’s very own guitar virtuoso
James Sedwards.
The Thurston Moore Band are unfortunately
named; if anything, that would have suited
the short-lived Chelsea Light Moving better.
Alongside Sedwards, the supergroup’s
line-up also features trusty Sonic Youth
tub-thumper Steve Shelley and My Bloody
Valentine bassist Deb Googe, who, on the
thunderous early evidence of ‘Forevermore’,
have quickly formed a formidable rhythm
section. Moore, meanwhile, duels with
and frequently defers to Sedwards, whose
bombastic solo scrawled over ‘The Best
Day’ vividly illustrates what he brings to
the party. Sonic Youth were always about
chemistry, a whole that was greater than the
sum of its parts, and the same is true of this
new incarnation.
‘Forevermore’ is swiftly followed by
‘Speak To The Wild’, two of the finest
songs Moore’s ever written – loose,
jammy, deftly constructed out of clanging
and chiming guitar riffs and motifs that
spiral off into dischord and chaos before
returning comfortingly back to where they
started – though it’s arguably an elongated,
deconstructed take on ‘Grace Lake’ that
steals the show.
At 56, Moore may no longer be a sonic
youth, but, with his metallic pendant,
snazzy two-tone trousers, sharp brogues and
relatively new short haircut, he still looks as
boyish as ever, the lectern for his lyric book
the only concession to his advancing years.
This is Moore’s first visit to an O2 venue,
the walls of which he feels should be
covered with the work of local artists
(“Black is so over”). A career in interior
design awaits, perhaps – though, as the new,
largely instrumental, songs (or “anti-rightwing protest poems”, as he would have
it) aired tonight make manifest, musically
speaking there’s still plenty of life left in the
old dog yet.
Ben Woolhead
SLY & THE FAMILY DRONE /
DJ YOUNG CONSERVATIVE /
TELEGRAPHER
The Wheatsheaf
I spend the duration of Telegrapher’s set
mentally placing them squarely in the
city’s fine recent lineage of brutal rock
duos – Winnebago Deal, Phantom Theory,
50ft Panda – only to overhear afterwards
that they’re actually normally a threesome
and that the guitarist is missing due to an
injured hand. If they can make this much of
an impression when they’re a man down,
wielding sludgy bass riffs so meaty they’re
unsuitable for vegetarians, you can only
salivate at the thought of what they might
do when at full strength.
Sounding like an act straight out of the club
listings guide on Chris Morris’ Bluejam,
DJ Young Conservative has – the merch
table reveals – released both a split EP with
the marvellously named Lonnie Bangford
and an album boasting death metal-style
artwork. All of which hardly prepares
you for a strangely sinister and curiously
compelling reinterpretation of prime 80s Pet
Shop Boys by Vangelis and Public Service
Broadcasting. He’s not much to look at
on stage, pressing keys and tinkering with
radio static, but has the distinction of being
a Tory I’d actually vote for.
When headliners Sly & The Family Drone
start setting up, it soon becomes apparent
why the Wheatsheaf has felt even cosier
than normal. Drums, pedals and electronic
gizmos, previously shrouded to the sides
of the room, are wheeled into the centre
of the floor, which is soon carpeted with a
tangle of wires. The trio are a health and
safety officer’s nightmare, as well as a
major headache for ’Sheaf soundman Joal
Shearing.
A set that begins with the Walker Brothers’
‘Make It Easy On Yourself’ wafting gently
through the PA and an invitation to cluster
around close (they don’t so much break the
fourth wall as completely demolish it) ends
in a chaotic racket, the communal bashing
of countless drums and a short person with
a paunch who’s wearing only his pants
while screaming his lungs out. Some might
say that, for the father of a two-year-old,
this climax is something of a busman’s
holiday. Not me, though – I’m too busy
smiling and marvelling at the drummer’s
ability to keep all of his accomplices for
the evening (including local noisenik Lee
Riley) vaguely in time, despite himself
being distracted by a bloke who looks like
Frank Zappa continually waving a camera
on a selfie stick in his face.
London-based promoters Burn The
Jukebox are relatively new to Oxford, but
on this evidence they’re welcome back any
time.
Ben Woolhead
WOOD FESTIVAL
Braziers Park
This family friendly and pioneering eco-friendly festival has now
been going long enough for the sustainable powered stages, the
kids charging about, the organic food and the compost toilets to
seem routine. But it’s a delight to be back at Braziers, a perfect
setting for a spring festival of music and nature.
This year the number of eco workshops and activities is
possibly a record. It’s also the Year Of The Bee, so it’s a
surprise it takes 24 hours before we spot our first adults in full
bee costume. More disappointing is it takes only ten seconds to
stumble over recyclable litter dropped by the main stage.
Of course music remains all important to WOOD. Having
previously hosted some headliners who were absorbing but low
key, organisers Robin and Joe Bennett this year aim for high
energy and high noise finales every night on the main stage, and
in their different ways all the headline bands oblige.
Friday’s headliners, Treetop Flyers get off to a less than
flying start, but gradually the band’s performance grows along
with the crowd and the atmosphere. The tipping point is Reed
Morrison’s emotive all-out performance of his tribute to his
late father, `St Andrew’s Cross’, backed only by harmonies and
a single acoustic guitar, which gets a roar of approval and is
easily the set highlight. The band finish in proper climatic rock
style and seem genuinely surprised at the crowd calling them
back for an encore in appreciation of a job well done.
Before Saturday’s headliners Tuung take to the main stage, we
have already seen a couple of well received high-energy sets.
First, The Dreaming Spires propel themselves and us through
their take on Americana with the Bennett Brothers fulfilling
their own brief by shrugging off any tiredness accumulated
from organising the festival.
Next up, the fresh faced CC Smugglers play original
songs inspired by (mainly American) old tunes and rhythms,
predominately Texas swing and Cajun, and Appalachian hoedowns. Their self-declared work ethic and desire to succeed
shine through as they do everything with well rehearsed verve
and panache, including their stage moves, and they rapidly get
the crowd eating out of their collective hand.
So WOOD is already buzzing when folkatronic, psych-trance,
and sometimes prog crew Tuung come on. Their staccato
rhythms, spiky, restless guitar chords and chimes, bells, and
melodica create an energy and excitement that is very different
from their previous, unimpressive WOOD performance.
Sunday’s headliners Songoy Blues recently released their
debut album `Music In Exile’, having come together in the
Malian capital Bamako after three of the four members fled
there when Islamist militants took over in much of the north of
the country. They mix Songoy rhythms with aggressive, Jimmy
Hendrix-style urban riffs. Live the band are tight, dynamic and
well drilled, with a gem of a lead guitarist and a singer with
a very attractive, rich, soulful baritone voice and a shoulder
shaking, pelvic tilting dance routine of which Mick Jagger
would be proud. Perhaps the most exciting WOOD set ever?
Well because we like some rough edges we’d put Kaira Arby’s
set of 2011 just ahead, but Songoy are extremely impressive.
The other band we’ve looked forward to seeing for the first
time are Spiro. Their violinist wears an amazing three-layered
dress that could be a metaphor for their multilayered music,
which brings together Celtic sounding riffs and Michael Nyman
and Steve Reich-influenced pulses, while somehow continuing
to sound thoroughly English. Their set consists of beautifully
arranged and played instrumentals that tend to be a little
understated but they come up with an exhilarating version of
the traditional `Bobby Shafto’, transforming it into a boisterous
romp.
Regular visitor to Oxfordshire Thomas Truax, brings out the
darker side of ‘You Are My Sunshine’ and becomes a reluctant
Pied Piper when he steps off the stage to sing among the crowd,
finding himself being followed by a snake of 30 kids which he
struggles to shake off.
The final mention goes to Nature Boy, both because his
birthday is celebrated on stage and because he bucks the singersongwriter miserablist tendency by being such an optimist,
which, like WOOD, is always something worth celebrating.
Colin May
TELLING THE BEES / CHARLIE
HENRY
Albion Beatnik Bookshop
With a smile in her voice as big as
the one on her face, Charlie Henry’s
winning personality is part of the
appeal of her charming, quirky
performance. She also has the
considerable advantage of her ukulele
and accordion being joined by Barney
Morse-Brown’s cello, which fills
out what might otherwise be a thin
instrumental sound.
Barney joins Charlie and a
narrowboat ‘Hieronymus Pepys’
who gently rocks her to sleep, and a
noisy neighbour, ‘Sedge Warbler’,
whose perspective Charlie takes as
Sedge tries to get a female to join
him for some fun. There’s a potential
for serious cringe-making here, but
both ‘characters’ are marvellously
conjured up by Charlie and Barney
without it going Jackanory. Charlie’s
world is more knowing than first
impressions imply and in a crammed
market of worldly wise female singersongwriters, it’s surely by continuing
to play to her winsome self that she
stands the best chance of standing out
from the crowd.
Telling the Bees have always had
songs with which they can rock out
but are probably best heard when
totally acoustic, as they are tonight for
the home town launch of their third
album, ‘Steer By The Stars’. It turns
out many of the songs new to us are
so good it makes picking a highlight
nigh on impossible, and makes us
only a tad disappointed when they
play hardly any old favourites.
Much of the credit for this goes to
Andy Letcher’s songwriting skills. He
draws on folklore, psychedelia, and
protest music to produce multilayered
lyrics, some of which can sound as if
written a century or more ago while
still conveying a message for our
times. Then there’s the rest of the
band who do not simply accompany
Andy’s husky vocals but inhabit the
songs with him. When Andy sings
a line about dancing, Jim Penny’s
concertina dances and in `St Kevin
(yes, there’s a Kevin who’s a saint) &
The Blackbird’, Jane Griffiths’ violin
swoops and dives.
The band trade under the banner
of “darkly crafted folk”, and it gets
pretty dark with `I Fear These Tory
Radicals’, based on the words of 19th
Century poet John Clare. There’s
plenty of light too, though. Like the
celebratory faux folk number
`Oxford May Song’, but we hope
rhyming “dayo” with “mayo” was
intended as a gently ironic take on
the genre. ‘The Puppeteer Came To
Town’ is a tale of dark into light, but
the performance has a spine-tingling
moment when master puppeteer
Martin Brindle gives voice to a
grotesque, manic-sounding Mr Punch.
Colin May
THE DESTROYERS
The Cellar
Halfway through their second
track of the evening, `Kalinka’,
the Destroyers treat us to a simple
refrain of “Fuck the Tories”; it’s a
perfectly judged sentiment on one
of the bleakest days in recent history
and one that the audience, packing
the venue to the rafters for tonight’s
Bossaphonik show, laps up and
screams back with relish.
For this rumbustious thirteen
person combo from Birmingham
aren’t going to take the re-election
of messrs Cameron, Osborne and
company lying down and nor are
they going to allow the news to
sully their determination to have a
good time. That this onlooker found
himself singing along to the words
of tracks despite hearing them for
the first time is testament to the
band’s magnificent live show, full
of inventiveness and recalling the
protest spirt of a quarter of a century
ago and the determination to resist
the Criminal Justice Bill.
The Destroyers recall acts as diverse
as The Men They Couldn’t Hang and
Madness but their primary spirit is
that of the Balkans; `Trec Tzigane’
proclaims its Romany heritage while
hurdy-gurdy, clarinet, fiddle and
other instruments that we’ve scarcely
heard of, jostle for space on the
cramped stage.
Most curious of all is the centrepiece
to new track `Vortex Cannon’
with the lead singer wielding the
eponymous instrument itself: a
massive bucket seemingly taped
on to the shaft of a rifle, forming
something of a makeshift tuba and
leading to all kinds of larks – earlier,
he had assured us that this trombone
is a danger to, by turns, `society’ and
then `sobriety’ in `The Trombone
Song’. That the instruments
themselves are so fetishized
makes for an increasingly surreal
atmosphere.
By the time `Swamp Tzigane’ closes
the set, the place is in a frenzy making
you wonder where this appetite for
the music and Central and Eastern
Europe has sprung from. The night
is a triumph for The Destroyers and
Bossaphonik alike. For one night at
least, we can try and forget Britain’s
sad lurch to the Right.
Rob Langham
DUOTONE / RICHARD WALTERS /
CAMERON A.G.
The North Wall
Splitting his set between electric
organ and acoustic guitar Cameron
A.G. gives us a set of well-crafted
pop that openly carries and blends
its influences to great effect. At
times he could pass for a modern
pop troubadour in the vein of Ed
Sheeran (we mean no offence), while
at others you can hear the freedom of
60s west coast folk revival. His lyrics
find beauty in the mundane but are
no less emotionally resonant. A great
opening set.
Next up is the long-missed Richard
Walters. This is his first solo set in
two years (he is now working with
two bands; Liu Bei and Parla) and it’s
been way too long. Stripping away
the production of his last album,
‘Regret Less’, truly shows the core
of Walters’ musicianship: heartwrenching vocals over deceptively
simple arrangements. Live Walters is
so engaging you can barely blink let
alone look away or, woe betide, check
your phone. Liu Bei are great, but I
would be immensely sad if this is the
last time I see Richard play solo.
After a brief rearrangement of gear
and a chance to visit the real life
‘Little White Caravan’ Barney Morse
Brown, the force behind Duotone,
takes to the stage. This is clearly his
full vision, the more recent electronic
additions to his set work brilliantly to
form the dense arrangements of the
new material. The heavy percussion
on album title track ‘Let’s Get Low’
and the synth stabs on ‘Little White
Caravan’ emphasise the new Duotone
sound. Cello is still important, but
the whole song is more so.
Of course we do get older songs,
like ‘You Don’t Need Church’,
and crowd favourite ‘Greetings,
Hello’, which sees Barney launch
into a frenzy of loops and cello so
intense that it could easily finish
with a Townshend-esque smashing
of his instrument (needless to say he
doesn’t).
For an encore the whole room sings
along with ‘These Towns’, a lament
of the propagation of supermarkets
(and some more subtle ideas too),
and to close the night Richard
Walters returns to the stage for
beautiful if unexpected duet of Talk
Talk’s ‘I Believe In You’. Tonight
is a gig to remember for a very long
time. If this is the new, fully formed
Duotone, we can’t wait to see what
comes next.
Matt Chapman-Jones
SARAH JAROSZ, SARA WATKINS
& AOIFE O’DONOVAN
St John the Evangelist
Normally the phrase “I’m with her”
conjures up a degree of picking
sides but tonight’s I’m With Her tour
featuring Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins,
and Aoife O’Donovan makes it
impossible to pick a winner. With
solo numbers and group ensembles
in equal measures they still manage
to fuse as one, leaving the inattentive
ear unable to decipher where one
artist ends and another begins.
Tonight, though, it’s not just about
showcasing their own songs, with a
cover of John Hiatt’s ‘Crossing The
Muddy Waters’, John Croce’s
‘Walking Back to Georgia’,
and Andrew Stroud’s ‘Be My
Husband’ all thrown into the mix.
When their own songs do hit the
spotlight it’s hard to pick between
Jarosz’ ‘Build Me Up From
Bones’, Watkins’ ‘Be There’, and
O’Donvonan’s ‘Red and White and
Blue and Gold’. Each song highlights
the incredible power of the individual
artist, and serves to confirm them as
artists at the top of their game. The instrument swapping which
sees a feast of guitars, ukuleles,
banjos, and fiddles hit the stage
also goes a long way to highlight
the dexterity of the trio, and proves
their ability to both compose and
deliver intricate numbers filled with
passion. Meanwhile, the finale of
Emmylou Harris’ `The Darkest
Hour Is Just Before Dawn’ from the
balcony showcases how St John the
Evangelist lends itself to the genre,
the amplification of their harmonies
bringing a beautiful ring to the end of
the night. For me, however, it’s their
cover of Gillian Welch’s `A Hundred
Miles’ which is the pinnacle of the
night, filled with both emotion and
heartache.
Fusing bluegrass, Americana, folk,
and at times a more traditional
country sound, the trio span the
genres in an effortless way that
leaves each song bleeding into the
next. With Watkins and O’Donovan
finding previous fame in Nickel
Creek and Crooked Still respectively,
and Jarosz rarely found without her
wingmen Nathaniel Smith and Alex
Hargreaves, tonight stands to testify
that all three are more than capable
of commanding the crowd without
extensive backing. Suffice to say, if I
hadn’t been convinced before, by the
end of the show I am indeed with her
(and her, and her).
Lisa Ward The Oxfordshire
Youth Poetry Slam
Saturday 27 June - 7pm
Magdalen College School
th
The best of Oxford’s emerging literary talent
in association with Hammer and Tongue,
featuring poetry slam artist, Mark Grist.
w w w. a r t s f e s t i v a l o x f o r d . o r g
@ArtsFestOxford
Arts Festival Oxford
Tickets:
£10/£7/£2
01865 305 305
www.ticketsoxford.com
Mary Bendy Toy ~ Agness Pike ~ Spinner Fall
Peerless Pirates ~ Man Make Fire ~ Laima
Puppet Mechanic ~Trev Williams ~ Reckless Sleepers
Purple May ~ Charms against the evil eye
Billypure ~ Mark Bosley ~ Norman Tipler
Young Women's Music Project
Sarahheadinclouds ~ Skeptics ~ Elliot
Matt Edwards Band ~ Mad Larry ~ Monkfish
The Shapes ~ Beaverfuel ~ Les Clochards
Amy Bee ~ Space Heroes of the people ~ Frank
The Dammed & The Dirty ~ Hugh McManners
The String Project ~ Luke Allmond ~ Maurice ~ Xana
White Beam ~ Ideal Koala
WIN TRUCK FESTIVAL TICKETS!
& MC NEAT, and SHY FX.
Of course, that’s just scratching the surface
of Truck, and there’ll also be a hefty local
contingent of acts to see along the way. With
music, comedy and kids activities running across
half a dozen different stages, the main challenge
of Truck Festival is, as ever, trying to see
everything you want in just two days.
Tickets for this year’s Truck are a bargain £79.50
for adult weekend camping tickets and you can
get them, along with a whole heap of news and
information about the event at truckfestival.com.
Summer in south Oxfordshire can only mean one
thing – TRUCK FESTIVAL. Always has done,
always will do. Because the Gods of Music say so.
BISCUIT BOYS, and what might be the showstealing set of the weekend – AUGUSTINES.
As ever set in the intimate surroundings of Hill
Farm in Steventon from the 17th-18th July,
Truck is very much the Oxfordshire music
calendar centrepiece. This year’s main stage
headliners are THE CHARLATANS and
BASEMENT JAXX. They’re joined by an
impressive supporting cast that includes CLEAN
BANDIT, TEMPLES, PUBLIC SERICE
BROADCASTING, SAINT RAYMOND,
SUMMER CAMP, DON BROCO, DEMOB
HAPPY, KING PLEASURE & THE
Beyond the main stage, DARWIN DEEZ,
GHOSTPOET, PETER HOOK & THE
LIGHT and LUCY ROSE head up the bill on
the Market Stage, while Nightshift’s regular
Truck haunt of choice, the Barn, with its fragrant
agricultural perfume, is once again a den of noisy
brilliance in the form of FAT WHITE FAMILY,
PULLED APART BY HORSES, SLAVES,
BO NINGEN, EAGULLS, TELLISON,
THE WYTCHES, BABY GODZILLA and
BLOODY KNEES, while late nights in the Barn
will feature dance parties hosted by DJ LUCK
THE WHEATSHEAF
Wednesday 3rd June – MOSHKA
1000 CHAINS K-LACURA + HELL’S GAZELLS
8pm/£5
Friday 5 June – KLUB KAKOFANNEY
th
BALLOON ASCENTS GRANDMA’S HANDS + MOIETY + FEMINISM
8pm/£5
Saturday 6th June – BURIED IN SMOKE
BLACK RAINBOWS OLD MAN LIZARD + INDICA BLUES
8pm
Sunday 7th June – IDIOT KING
TELLISON BAD IDEAS + CASSELS
8pm
Wednesday 10th June – IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC
THE MIGHTY DISCO BISCUITS
8pm
Friday 12 June
th
INVISIBLE VEGAS SWEET PINK + ECHOPRAXIS
8pm/£5
Saturday 13th June – IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC
GEMMA MOSS NUDY BRONQUE + PIPPA MORAN
8pm
And thanks to our chums at Truck, Nightshift
has a pair of weekend camping tickets to give
away, completely and utterly free, in one of our
splendidly generous competitions.
To stand a chance of winning, simply
TELL US WHO HEADLINED THE MAIN
STAGE ON THE SATURDAY NIGHT OF
2014’S TRUCK FESTIVAL.
Email entries, clearly marked Truck Competition,
to editor@nightshiftmag.co.uk, or send entries
on a postcard to Truck Competition, Nightshift
Magazine, PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU.
Please include full name, address and daytime
phone number. Deadline for entries is the 21st
June. The editor’s decision is to sing along
heroically but tunelessly to Augustines, much to
the chagrin of everyone within a fifty-foot radius.
DR SHOTOVER: A Punt Poem
Ah there you are, and welcome to
The bar of the East Indies Club.
Unscrew your purse, pull up a pew,
And buy us all a beer, you schlub.
How did you find the Punt this year?
The cream of Oxford rock and roll,
The drinks, the drinks, the drinks, the drinks…
The head stuck down the toilet bowl.
Reviews on beermats the next day Hung over, can’t make out a thing.
‘Uncompromising’ does that say?
Oh no it’s just ‘unpromising’.
So come ye journos, one and all
Give us a toast and raise your glass:
Here’s to the drinks, the drinks, the drinks.
Young People’s music? Kiss my… !
Next month: Arse
Tuesday 16th June – BURIED IN SMOKE
SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT MOTHER CORONA
8pm
Friday 19th June – OXROX PRESENTS
STONEGHOST FURY + CHILDREN LOST IN TIME + SECOND RATE ANGELS
8pm/£5
Saturday 20th June – MD PROMOTIONS
GHOSTS IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS
THE BECKONING FAIR + ONES COSMOSIS 8pm
Wednesday 24th June – IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC
BEL ESPRIT SCOUT KILLERS
8pm
Friday 26th June – IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC
STORYTELLER THE OTHER DRAMAS + A RELUCTANT ARROW
8pm
Saturday 27th June – GAPPY TOOTH INDUSTRIES
31 HOURS UNKNOWN SOLDIER + SYLVA KAY
8pm
The Wheatsheaf 129 High Street, Oxford OX1 4DF / www.facebook.com/wheatsheaf.oxford
PUNT 2015 Pollwinners The Selfie
Sticks pop in to thank
Dr S personally for all
his support…
INTRODUCING....
Nightshift’s monthly guide to the best local music bubbling under
Esther Joy Lane
Who is she?
Esther Joy Lane is a solo electronic / r’n’b singer, multi-instrumentalist
and producer. She started out making music on an acoustic guitar a few
years back, “hoping to find some other people to form a band with, but it
never happened so I looked to producing myself to make up for a lack of
bandmates and developed a passion for electronic music. It’s just me in
this project so the formation was fairly natural. I started making music and
began messing around on Garageband trying to create my own stuff.” Her
track, `Poets’, attracted immediate attention, earning her airplay on BBC
Oxford Introducing; a debut gig with Stornoway as part of Independent
Venue Week, and a slot on last month’s Oxford Punt followed.
What does she sound like?
A mixture of moody, atmospheric synths with r’n’b/electro beats,
melancholic guitars and strong, ambient vocals, that has drawn admiring
comparisons to Grimes and London Grammar.
What inspires her?
“Hearing a track that has blown me away and I’m like, ‘I need to write
a song that makes me feel like this…now.’ There is so much great stuff
out there and it really does inspire me into action. Also, life. I’m a really
emotional person and I put a lot of that into my music; it’s a great way of
dealing with things, both good and bad.
Career highlight so far:
“The amazing support I received. BBC Oxford Introducing have played
my stuff a few times and have been a huge part in giving me the confidence
to start sharing more of my music and playing live. They, alongside the
incredible Stornoway, organised the first gig I played in Oxford at the Cellar
for Independent Venue Week. I was honoured to be playing at such a great
event alongside such great musicians. Nightshift actually reviewed it and I
was so surprised that you didn’t think I sucked; it really encouraged me.”
And the lowlight:
“Highs and lows come hand-in-hand. I’ve had amazing gigs that I’ve
played, supporting great bands, but that I’ve come away from feeling I
could have done a load better. That’s probably the hardest part for me.”
Her favourite other Oxfordshire act is:
“Maiians. I supported them at the Bullingdon and they were amazing. Big
energy – like, huge energy!”
If she could only keep one album in the world, it would be:
“`High Violet’ by The National.”
When is her next local gig and what can newcomers expect?
“I’ll be supporting Khamsina at The Bullingdon on June the 11th for their
new single launch. Expect bass, beats and dancing.”
Her favourite and least favourite things about Oxford music are:
“Favourite thing is the care people have for all elements of the music and the
quality at which Oxford does it. The bands, festivals, venues, this magazine,
shops like Truck store or PMT. It’s a really good community. Least favourite
is wanting to get even more people into the community. I think sometimes
people can feel a little on the outside with music scenes. It would be great to
have more events like the Punt that make it really accessible for people who
are new to, or don’t feel a part of, that community.”
You might love her if you love:
London Grammar; Grimes; Deptford Goth; Sade; Jessie Ware.
Hear her here:
soundcloud.com/estherjoylane
ALL OUR YESTERDAYS
20 YEARS AGO
The nights were getting lighter and brighter in
every way in June 1995. With The Hobgoblin on
The Plain getting into gear under the stewardship
of former-Jericho Tavern promoter Mac, news
emerged that Nick Moorbath and Adrian Hicks
had secured a long-term lease on the former
Oxford Venue building, which was due to reopen in October this year with an increased
capacity of 399, as well as a new downstairs box
office, cloakroom and foyer.
In less optimistic news, The Hollybush pub in
Osney – host to early shows from Supergrass and
The Nubiles – was tied up in a legal battle between
Morland Brewery and Oxford City Council over
its licence, while builders had managed to knock
out foundations during redevelopment work, taking
out much of an adjoining house, thus live music
at the pub was looking unlikely to return in the
foreseeable future.
Of those gigs taking place in Oxford this month,
choice cuts included rising local heroes The
Mystics and Wonderland at The Hobgoblin,
as well as a memorable show at The Elm Tree
featuring indie noise darlings Ligament, Scarfo
and Joeyfat. Reviewers from a soon to be
relaunched local music mag were spied at each
show. Summer was finally coming back to the
Oxford music scene.
10 YEARS AGO
There’s nowt certain in life other than death
and taxes. And the continued existence of The
Relationships. Back in June 2005 the band,
variously described as veterans, legends and
stalwarts, were celebrating their tenth anniversary
with a Nightshift front cover. Fast forward another
decade and the band are still going strong, a force
for musical good in an uncertain and cruel world.
Their collective history goes back another two
decades before that of course, singer Richard
Ramage having fronted Oxford music godfathers
Here Comes Everybody with guitarist Angus
Stevenson, while drummer Tim Turan has been
hitting stuff with serious intent since punk rock
was a toddler, and bassist Andy Smith was part
of local cult heroes The Bigger the God. As the
quartet prepared to release their album `Scene’,
they talked about their quintessentially English
form of psychedelic indie – “English blues” as
they put it. They rocked, but gently. “We’ve never
tried testosterone,” declared Andy, “it sounds too
dangerous. Though I did once put my put up on
the monitor and nearly put my back out.” “iPods
sounds like a childhood disease,” added Angus.
Elsewhere this month BBC Oxford Download
was granted a further nine-week trial run, while
Truck Festival, set to feature Biffy Clyro and
Magic Numbers as headliners, had already sold
out. Dive Dive released their new single `The
Sorry Suitor’, while Hanging Out With The
Cool Kids Records put out `4x EPs’, featuring
Gunnbunny, Deguello, Sextodecimo and The
Holiday Stabbings, a prime slice of Oxford
music history that still gets a regular airing on the
THIS MONTH IN OXFORD
MUSIC HISTORY
Nightshift stereo.
Choice gigs in town this month included 60s
folk hero Donovan at the Town Hall and The
Magic Band at The Zodiac, while The London
Community Gospel Choir and The Jhaipur
Kawa Brass Band were highlights of Cowley
Road Carnival.
5 YEARS AGO
Not for the first or last time, Stornoway
graced the cover of June 2010’s Nightshift, the
band having just released their debut album,
`Beachcomber’s Windowsill’, on 4AD.
Four years in the making, the album is now
considered an Oxford classic. “The writing is
an ongoing process, whenever we can find time
in beween all the sex, drugs and accountancy
meetings,” said Brian Briggs, as well as bursting
into song mid interview and declaring himself a
dreamer.
A slew of local releases this month included
Little Fish’s `Am I Crazy?’ single, and The
Delta Frequency’s `Wisdom Walks Hand In
Hand With Idiocy’, as well as outings for The
Keyz, Clare Free, Domes of Silence and The
Anydays, while highlights of a sparse gigging
month due to yet another disappointing World
Cup, were Goldfrapp, Brendan Perry and
Band of Horses at the O2 Academy, as well as
Elvis Costello’s visit to The New Theatre. He’s
back again this month. As we say, some things
never change.
DEMOS
Sponsored by
DEMO OF
THE MONTH
LITTLE BROTHER
ELI
We don’t arf pick our days to review
demos here at Nightshift. As we sit down
with the pile this month it’s emerged that
a nation of imbeciles have just voted for
a party full of bastards to rule over them
for another five years. “Please master, will
you beat me some more?” It’s more than
a little depressing, but we take solace in
the thought that another half a decade of
stomping on the poor and society’s more
vulnerable members might at least lead
to some decent protest music in the next
few years. Still, we can’t really talk, since
each month we’re faced with a motley
assortment of hapless hopefuls who
prostrate themselves before our tender
critical mercy, and like Ian Duncan Smith
faced with a single mother trying to cope
with the fallout of the bedroom tax, we’re
happy to pile on the pain.
And if we got the blues, it ain’t nuttin
compared to Little Brother Eli, a band
who found themselves playing the Punt
last month after previously ending up in
the Demo Dumper with their first demo.
You see, people, even in those darkest of
hours there is the hope that things will get
better. Get better being something Little
Brother Eli have done with giant bells on.
Where once was a band who reminded us
of Jamiroquai singing nursery rhymes, is
a rough-hewn gang of Delta roughnecks,
rocking it up in a Mississippi shack after
several bottle of moonshine. Having
accidentally trashed their record player
while dancing like loons to White Denim,
they’ve set about trying to recreate those
songs themselves, in the process making
such a racket that Jack White, who lives
six doors away, has popped round to see
what all the kerfuffle is, and decided to
stay and help out. Things are getting down
and dirty now. A bit funky too after The
Black Keys sweep round with an extra
case of beers and plenty of good vibes.
And even when energy levels have flagged
just a tad in the wake of all that hollerin’
and having it heavy, there’s still time to get
grandpappy’s old slide guitar down from
above the fireplace and really give it some
blues. Little Brother Eli might sound like
they could have leapt straight out of the
1960s or 70s blues-rock heyday but your
puny Sam Smith-informed protestations
are cast aside with riff-fuelled disdain
Demo of the Month wins a free half day
at Soundworks studio in Oxford,
courtesy of Umair Chaudhry. Visit
www.umairchaudhry.co.uk/nightshift
and some righteous gospel. And anyway,
we rather like the 60s and 70s. That hamfaced poltroon Cameron wasn’t ruling the
country for starters.
CLUB SODA
After all that whisky and beer, a club soda’s
hardly going to keep the party going, is
it? The name does, though, remind us of
that 1980s drink of choice, the white wine
spritzer, which is appropriate since Club
Soda sound like they just tumbled out of
a time machine that set off at roughly the
same moment as Marty McFly’s Delorean
first disappeared into the past. Over a
comfortable bed of discreet organ hum,
gentle drum shuffle and soft rock guitar
noodling, the singer emotes earnestly if
unimposingly, and everything feels like
it’s happening somewhere just beyond the
middle distance. If we’re being kind they
sound like Prefab Sprout’s less engaging
cousin, capturing all the thrills and spills
of that mid-80s soft-centred soul-pop chart
explosion. It’s hardly Michael Gove-like in
its ability to irritate or infuriate, but like a
Tory parish councillor’s handshake crossed
with one of The Silence from Dr Who, it
leaves no impression beyond a slightly
innocuous, clammy feeling. And we
remember that while the 1980s’ seemingly
endless Tory dominance did lead to some
serious rabble-rousing protest pop, it also
gave us a great grey ocean of fluff that
sounded an awful lot like this.
JULIET & THE
RAGING ROMEOS
This is a bit more like it – bit of noise,
bit of attitude, bit of an 80s underground
rock vibe. The Raging Romeos’ clean-cut
garage rock is far from threatening but it’s
slightly off-centre and it’s got spirit and
enough subtlety to slide into pop territory
occasionally. It’s singer Juliet, though,
who gives the band their character, an
alternately strident and sultry siren who,
on demo opener `Good Girl’ reminds us
of MIA and Penetration’s Pauline Murray
in equal measures. By the time they hit
`Venus’, she’s upped the tension enough to
recall Hazel O’Connor as her band chugs
with a meaty sense of pop-friendly punk
purpose behind her. Probably not statuekicking, barricade-manning musical fury,
but the sort of thing you can imagine the
late, great John Peel having in session back
in the height of the Thatcher years, the
great man enthusing loudly and effusively
about their vim and vigour as he wondered
what the bloody blazes was happening to
the country. And in Juliet the band have got
a rock and roll star in the making.
MARTYRED FOR
NOTHING
Now, this really is barricade-manning
musical fury. A torrential cloudburst of
blast beats, shredded riffage and splenetic
raging of the kind that should be piped
into the brains of everyone who voted
for Cameron and cronies in the middle
of the night, every night, to remind them
of the bloody great fuck-up they made
with that stubby wee pencil in the voting
booth. Alongside the likes of Reveller and
Being Eugene, Banbury’s Martyred For
Nothing are pumping some serious energy
into metalcore locally at the moment, and
on a day such as this, something that is
basically a howl of rage into the void feels
utterly fitting. The sound of a thousand
militant malcontents vomiting up their
spleens at the thought of five more years
of Tory rule. Into battle, friends. Into
battle!
LUCY LEAVE
We’re suckers for lyrical genius here at
Nightshift, and Lucy Leave can be proud
that they are to be cut out and pinned on
the Wall of Poetic Heroes in our office with
their frankly marvellous “I like the friends
/ That I have in my life / Thank you, my
friends / Thank you, my friends / La la
la la la la la.” They’ll need to be careful
Sleaford Mods don’t try and nick that
particular gem for their next opus, `Stella
Artois Knife Fight Wanker’. We shouldn’t
mock them too much for that though, since
on balance this is decent enough, if all a
bit of a mess. Perched precariously atop
an agricultural bassline seemingly half
inched from Hawkwind, `Friends’ rumbles
sternly along with the singer doing his best
Robert Wyatt impression as he ponders
all the stuff he’s got in life, until it settles
down in almost resigned fashion towards
the end. `Carry’ is grungier and nastier, a
lo-fi nod to Pavement and Beck in parts,
still a bit untidy around the edges but
more convincing as a statement of musical
purpose and for all the faultlines here,
there’s something quite endearing about
Lucy Leave; hopefully they’ll emerge as
something proper special in the coming
months.
KHAMSINA
If there’s anything we enjoy more than
a lyrics sheet with a demo it’s a video to
point at and laugh. So thanks Khamsina
for this moody mini epic of lost love and
slightly overdone visual metaphors. We
open on a young couple having a row on a
swing bench before each ups and goes their
own way. Letters are written and tearily
read; girl plays the piano, while boy necks
vodka, smashes the glass dramatically on
the floor and weeps as girl’s letter begins
“Are you scared of the future?” (probably
yes if he’s going to be reliant on the NHS,
social services or the private rental sector).
Girl leaves her piano lounge behind to
emote atop a cliff as turbulent seas rage
beneath (all those repressed desires and
tensions, huh?). If we’re not spoiling it all
for you, it ends with girl sitting back on
the swing bench alone. Until boy arrives
and gives her a cuddle. Hurray for love!
The world is not such a terrible place,
the future is not a boot stamping on a
human face forever. There is love. And
overwrought power ballads. Oh yeah, the
music. Sorry – much mention is made
of Kate Bush in the reviews section of
Khamsina’s web page. This sounds like a
cross between Evanescence and Beverly
Craven. Still, vodka, tears and a swing
bench – those are memories they can never
take from us.
THE DEMO
DUMPER
SAHARA SKIES
With the tragic demise of Beady Eye, what
the country needs now, even more than
five more years of austerity and the cynical
punishment of society’s more vulnerable
elements, is another piss-poor Oasis tribute
band. Sorry, that’s a lazy comparison.
Sahara Skies, with their half-hearted baggy
beats, limply funky groove, wah wah pedals
and over-extended vowels are more of a
piss-poor tribute to The Twang. Hold that
thought in your mind for a few seconds,
dear reader. A tribute. To The Twang. A
band who we’ll freely admit had a bloody
good tune or three to their name, but were
only really of any consequence until the
actual Stone Roses reformed, at which point
they were reduced to a scampi-in-a-basketstyle package tour with The Enemy. But
now they have their own tribute band. And
they’ve even brought a set of bongos with
them, just in case all that sun-sheeeine fakeManc singing wasn’t enough to thrill you
to your very marrow. Apparently they’ve
supported Happy Mondays and The 1975,
so they recognise where their appeal might
lie. Not really sure we can say any more,
other than to perhaps ponder that if you
thought `The Second Coming’ was a letdown after `The Stones Roses’, then this is
what the rejected demos for the third album
might have sounded like if the Roses hadn’t
done the decent thing and split up when
they did.
Send demos for review to: Nightshift, PO Box 312, Kidlington, OX5 1ZU, or email links to
editor@nightshiftmag.co.uk, clearly marked Demos. IMPORTANT: no review without
a contact address and phone number; no more than four tracks on a demo please. If you
can’t handle criticism, please don’t send us your demo. And don’t fucking whine about your
review on Twitter either, else we’ll print a screenshot and make you look like a prize tit.
01865 240250
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CHARLY COOMBES, MOIETY.
01865 716466
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Residential recording studio in Sutton Courtenay.
www.courtyardrecordingstudio.co.uk
In-house producer: Ian Davenport www.ian-davenport.co.uk
Email: richardwalsh@cyard.com
Phone: Richard or Kate on 01235 845800
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